Sorry this chapter took so long. I had a number of things piling up as well as a sickness.
When the comets came, Ren could only think with some excitement on whatever this bonus boss was. Sure, his Brave Star Online did not have bonus bosses during the Waves, but this world was just different enough to have little twists of its own, twists that the Sword Hero gladly accepted as a way of getting both more challenges and rewards.
He turned towards his compatriots, focusing on Mald as he was the one he had set as second in command despite his recent shortcomings and defeats. "What's our status?" he asked, whilst he saw that Itsuki was entranced.
Mald let out a grunt. "Welt's armor splintered, Bakta also took a big hit, and Tersia is running low on magic power, but we're able to press on at your command!"
Ren gave a nod of affirmation, looking at his own party. They all looked at him with brave faces, which served to make the Sword Hero not doubt his own confidence.
Turning back, Ren saw the body of the chimera, brutalized and still bleeding profusely. The beast had been relatively contained, Though the ground was trashed and broken as its footfalls and crashes tore earth and dragonfire tore through the treeline, the damage was all confined into a small area no bigger than a classroom. If that was the expected difficulty curve, whatever bonus boss they were facing, it'd go down as easily as the chimera did.
Ahead, the comets raced down, four individual spheres came. They seemed almost unnatural, too smooth, too geometric to be the result of random chance. If it wasn't their almost perfectly round shape, it was the way they flew, blazing a trail in the sky with all four equidistant and in perfect balance with one another. That made it obvious where they were going to land - right in the woods just in front of them.
With a single gesture, the Sword Hero took a position several feet away from the other Heroes, with his party right behind him.
Then, as the comets landed dozens of feet away, a sudden realization came to his mind. He had seen this before, in a movie. Ren felt the sound of impact reverberate in his bones as the blazing comets slammed right into the earth. He closed his eyes as dust and debris was knocked into the air, the wind nearly knocked out of him.
Wiping the dirt from his eyes, he could see shapes moving in the shadows as something metallic crunched.
The beasts were each as large as the chimera that had just fought and each acted of its own volition, moving to meet one of the Heroes, with the fourth loping nearby.
"I think we just got hit by drop pods, but that's the wrong genre!" Ren shouted, pointing to the craters.
He could hear Itsuki saying something, but Ren couldn't identify what it was. He had enough presence of mind to guess it was about the current situation.
Everyone braced for combat.
9:14
The beasts walked out from the craters that marked their entry point, shedding metallic shells and casings in their wake. Four grizzled tigers moved through the dust cloud, coming into vision. They were nearly identical to each other, save that each wore armor that was colored in a distinct primary color: red, blue, green, and yellow.
Ren did not have much time to consider the implications of what he had seen. All he knew was that for some reason, drop pods rained from the sky like it was a Sci-Fi MilSim shooter and out came rampaging white tigers. "White tiger clones'' were what his UI called them
He ducked out of the way as one of the tigers - the yellow armored one - came at him with a claw swipe. The Sword Hero brought his weapon to bear and with a retaliatory slice back.
Blood spilled, Ren leapt back as Yellow made another push forward, claws at the ready on the leap. In addition, Tersia lobbed a bolt of fire, whilst Mald lunged forward with his axe.
Out of the corner of his eyes, he could see "Green" lunge at Motoyasu, with "Red" focusing on Itsuki. "Blue" however stepped forward and dove into Ren's followers, forcing them to break off.
Rage and fury running through him, Ren called out a skill. "Thunder Sword!" his blade visibly crackled with lightning as he slashed forward. He leapt up, his Sword diving at Yellow's helmet. With a violent eruption of electrical might, the metallic face deformed suddenly, but not by enough.
Yellow returned the favor. A metallic spike erupted from the helmet and lightning blazed out.
Ren's eyes widened as suddenly lightning discharged from the new horn and burst forward.
The force of the attack knocking him away, Ren spun mid air, twirling his body to land on his feet. Yellow lashed out with its claws in a wide swipe, which Ren narrowly ducked under before returning another strike.
But as Ren continued to fight, he noticed that Blue had changed its mind.
Blue spun around, its body contorting as it completely changed its focus, ignoring the companions and focusing squarely on the Sword Hero. It let out a ferocious roar and then leapt forth, the companions barely able to run out of the way as the gigantic tiger shot forward.
In a panic, Ren dashed out of the way, narrowly avoiding Blue as it blazed past him.
Yellow, however, took the opportunity to take a swipe again.
Ren felt the back of his armor tear as a sharp pain shot from behind him. He nearly fell to the ground from the injury but with his experience in VR kicking in, he came to regroup with the closest group he could see. It just so happened that Itsuki and his party were the closest, currently engaging what must have been Red - a white tiger engulfed in flames.
Fearing getting caught in the crossfire of the tigers, he used another skill. "Air Strike Bash!" A powerful gust of wind erupted from his Sword and sent the Yellow tiger back several paces, enough for it to break off the attack and focus on Welt as he came charging right at it, sword in hand.
"Some one, anyone, get me healing!" Ren spat.
"I uh fueh…" that timid girl tried to speak. "As source of …" she chanted, but the sounds of combat made her hard to hear before the invocation finished. "First Heal!"
A white light enveloped Ren and he felt his injury seal, but the pain still bothered him. Stupid immersion!
8:47
Blue, returning, shoved its weight into another charge, driving the Sword Hero back, though his quick reflexes saved him from taking even more damage.
"Damn it! Who the hell summoned these guys?" Ren shouted out as he fell close to Itsuki "Did we trigger a hidden condition!?"
"Beats me!" The Bow Hero was currently trying to throw arrows at the burning red tiger. "I don't recall anything like this in any of my games!"
Red tiger dove into the group, causing everyone to scatter to avoid getting burned.
Ren howled, letting loose another skill as he dove into the burning monster's flank. "Thunder Sword!" he shouted again, letting lightning coat his weapon. It dove through tearing apart some of the armor along its belly.
However, in return, Ren found his entire right arm covered in flames. Pain shot up as the fire threatened to consume him and he patted the fires out before they went out of control.
Red meanwhile had its attention focused on Itsuki's armored knight, Donut. She had almost enviable skill as she deftly evaded and parried the monster's attacks, despite being set on fire.
That girl who kept on wimpering at least kept applying spells to douse the flames and heal the sword fighter, though for how long?
8:21
Blue returned for another sweep through, causing the Bow Hero's party to scatter further.
Ren was starting to get really annoyed by the fact that Blue kept disrupting any attempt to subdue the other tigers, whilst similarly using its speed to be just out of reach from any would-be attackers.
Mald and Itsuki's axeman both threw something at the Blue tiger, causing its attention to shift away from Ren as it fell back.
The Sword Hero spun around, recollecting his bearings as he found himself now within reach of Motoyasu's party whilst they dealt with the tiger that focused squarely at them.
The Spear Hero and his band of women faced a white tiger clad in green armor. Green in return charged back, ramming its body with reckless abandon and unflinching resolve no matter what was thrown it it, forcing the Spear Hero to be on the defensive. Near him was that blonde woman who sometimes came close to attacking creatures, meanwhile the rest of the party stood back and hammered spells at the monster.
Sensing the opportunity, Ren moved in and primed his Sword. Wind spun around his blade as he thought of it. "Wind Cleave!" The Sword burst with a torrent of wind that rapidly fell upon the tiger, right at one of its paws.
Green didn't stop however, blood dripping from one of the forelimbs where the Skill connected. It still kept attacking.
Ren took a position nearby Motoyusu and took a stab, drawing yet more blood. "What's with this one? It's not even flinching!"
"The green one has a regeneration ability because of its armor! He's already healed back to full!" Motoyasu spat back, thrusting his Spear into the creature repeatedly. "I'm pretty sure it also has pain immunity."
"Seriously?" Ren spat, deflecting another claw. "So, how do we win?"
"You have to destroy the armor!" Motoyasu announced between swings. "The armor is what's giving them all these weird abilities!"
Ren suddenly wished he had unlocked a sundering ability. "How sure are you about that?"
"Very sure, since I'm sure the armor comes from a game I played, just… not Emerald Online," Motoyasu explained, though he didn't sound as sure as he claimed. "All armor has connection points that hold it together. Focus on that."
Either way, to Ren, it was better than doing nothing. A flash of inspiration came. "Do you have a knockdown or pinning ability?" He ducked out of the way, just as Green swiped with its claws.
The Blonde woman then came out and stabbed the Green tiger with her thin rapier. She barely penetrated the armor, but it was enough to divert the tiger's attention.
"Thanks Rino!" Motoyasu flashed a grin as he twirled his spear to parry a lunge from Green. "Something like that!" His Legendary Spear then suddenly became very long, almost double its previous length. He then dove straight into the blender of claws and teeth that was Green, driving his spear into a weak point in the white tiger's armor.
The huge beast did not so much reel back. It instead pushed forward, determined to strike back, but Motoyasu still held firm, safely away for now.
Ren, seeing the opportunity with the creature fixated entirely on the Spear Hero, darted and went around the beast's back to make his next attack.
Green meanwhile feared nothing and suffered nothing. It kept pressing itself forward, forcing the incredibly long spear to sink further into its body an inch at a time. At this point, the magical fire support the Spear Hero's… followers performed ceased, perhaps seeing no point at the moment.
"No way…" Motoyasu's mouth hung open.
Ren, shivering, leapt towards the beast's side and aimed for a buckle holding the armor together. He brought his Sword against the contraption and damaged it severely. He hammered against that component until it looked like it was about to break off.
The blonde woman who followed Motoyasu appeared on the other side, striking her own blows against Green's armor.
It seemed like they were going to finally take one of these things down.
Then abruptly, the tiger changed tactics. The mindlessly fixated berserk tiger stopped its advance and instead took a leap to the side, knocking the blonde woman to the ground.
Ren staggered awkwardly before regaining his balance.
Green's attention and body shifted over, twisting towards the woman. Motoyasu meanwhile, trying to maintain his Spear's current extension tried to shove the beast away, but he was only one man.
Then abruptly, a ball of fire landed between the woman and the tiger and a flash of blinding fire erupted.
Ren covered his eyes for a moment, reopening them to see that the tiger was suddenly ablaze.
"Myne!" he could hear Motoyasu screaming. "What did you do that for?"
Myne, that red haired princess that Naofumi hated for some reason, sputtered something. "Oh, uh I'm fairly sure Rino was already dead!"
"...I'm…. fine, bleeding but fine!" the woman said from across the fire. "The… flash gave me time to escape." She stumbled onto her feet, alive but injured
"I… meant to do that!" Myne said back.
Ren blinked a few times, Naofumi's warning when they had first met echoing in his mind. He didn't know everyone involved very well, but for some reason the Shield Hero warned them about any association with the Red Princess. Was this why?
Green gave no reaction that it even knew it was in pain. It emerged from the fires, wounds and burns mending before everyone's eyes.
"Rino, pull back!" Motoyasu commanded. "You're too injured to keep fighting now…"
Ren snarled. Why was he surrounded by people who cared too much about NPCs? Whatever, Motoyasu probably didn't want to lose his investments into her if she died.
Then, to make matters worse, Blue joined into the fray once more, diving into the group, scattering them. Even Motoyasu was forced to return his Spear to its default form.
7:16
When the dust settled, Ren was further away from Motoyasu and Green than he would have liked.
"Ren!" a voice nearby called out. Out of habit, the Sword Hero recognized it as one of his own. Welt or Bakta?
He turned his attention and saw his party being harassed by Yellow, lighting and claw swipes battering against Mald. The armored knight despite his earlier performance against Naofumi's tanuki, he was still a tank and he endured everything thrown at him.
Gritting his teeth, Ren charged toward his party. He reached down his belt and took a specific bottle from his side, one of the healing medicines that Naofumi had sold him in the days prior. Right now, he did not remember what it was for, but he drank it anyway. It made him feel better, the aches from repeated slashes and electrical burns fading away as made his attack.
Once in range, Ren unleashed a skill upon Yellow. "Shooting Star Sword!" he shouted and a wave of starlight glimmered out from his blade before batterering the armored tiger.
In retaliation, the tiger spun around, turning to face him. A jolt of lightning burst from his horn again.
Ren, seeing it, spun to the side.
But the tiger anticipated this and made a surprisingly long lunge. The tiger's paw slammed down on Ren, knocking him to the ground and stepping on his non-dominant arm.
Ren, cursing under his breath and feeling the bones in his arm breaking, swung his Sword, but at his current position he couldn't bring the weapon's full strength against the tiger's body.
Meanwhile, his party took the opportunity to attack on the creature as it was also similarly unable to evade. The Sword Hero party aimed all of their weapons and magic at the tiger, hoping to release their Hero. The tiger in response blasted the companions with lightning, whilst keeping the Sword Hero pinned.
Ren's eyes spun in rabid directions, trying to find anything to turn his situation around. He didn't have the raw strength to out muscle his opponent, but he had his experience. There was always a weak point, somewhere the monster would take heavy damage from if hit. Usually, this was locations in or around the head, things that glowed, or were out of place… There were connection points lined around the belly.
Ren conjured the will to swing his Sword. His aim struck true, shattering a clasp that held the armor together, the one right right under the tiger's leg that held him.
But before Ren could celebrate and move onto the next one, Yellow let out a powerful roar and glower with a brilliant light.
Lightning burst from the tiger in every direction.
All Ren knew was pain and agony as though his chest burned with a violent energy.
6:07
Blinking his eyes open, he could smell the faint ozone mixed with burning cloth. Wounds surrounded his body and his heart thumped a hundred miles per second.
Around him, Ren could see that his party had been blasted back by the sudden discharge of electricity.
Yellow looked down at the Sword Hero, its electrical horn glowing.
Ren tried to lift his Sword in retaliation, but the electrical shocks made his body spasm uncontrollably
The tiger loomed closer, its horn preparing to discharge.
And then in a moment, the bolt launched right at Ren's face.
"Air Strike Shield!"
The voice called out. A translucent green shield appeared before Ren.
The Sword hero did not know what to make of it, other than in that moment, he was spared.
Naofumi appeared right before him, his Shield looking like a solid block of blackened rubber. He was flanked on both sides by his demihuman followers.
The tiger snarled and let out a burst of lightning right at the Shield Hero, but Naofumi looked unphased. He charged and slammed his shield into the tiger's face, causing it to stagger back and freeing Ren from its grasp.
In that same instance, Naofumi's scythe wielding weasel brought an unmarked bottle full of a yellowish liquid. The intent was obvious.
Taking the bottle and chugging its contents, Ren regained his fighting strength and rose to his feet.
The tiger, furious, launched a flurry of bolts of lightning, one after another. Naofumi absorbed them all like rain…. that Shield was so overpowered, but he'll complain about that later.
Ren's wear eyes caught a glimpse of something in his periphery. "Nao…" he wheezed. "There's a tiger with blue armor coming right at us!"
"I see it!" Naofumi barked. He flashed a glance at Blue as he came to make a charge. It was right within a few paces of the group when Naofumi acted. "Shield Prison!" he shouted. And suddenly Blue was encased in a sphere with a loud thud, stopping instantly and on the spot. "At this rate it'll break through before my Skill expires. Any ideas?"
Ren spat blood from his mouth. "Destroy the armor joints! Break the armor and then they lose their special skills!"
"Right! Raphtalia, Keel, look for joints in their armor and shatter them! Rifana, don't engage alone!"
Naofumi, perhaps trusting his insane defenses, thought nothing about charging into Yellow as it pelted him with a storm of lightning. He certainly had no hesitation when he shoved his entire Shield into the beast's mouth. "Take it down!" he ordered.
Ren had to admit, Naofumi acted like he knew quite a bit about real time tactical combat. Ren leapt right in and smashed several of the armor's weak points along the beast's side. Meanwhile, Naofumi's followers brought their weapons to bear and smashed through the others.
5:32
As the joints that held the armor together came undone, it unraveled in a satisfying burst, turning into nothing but portions of useless scrap. The tiger was exposed, save for its menacing helmet.
Yellow tried to conjure lightning again, but the only thing that happened was that its horn sparked brightly for a few seconds before fizzling out entirely.
Sensing the opportunity, Ren leapt in and drove his sword through the creature's neck and unleashed a skill, specifically an ironic one. "Thunder Sword!" Blood spilled out like a torrent as electricity ruptured blood vessels and mangled flesh. The companions, both Naofumi's and Ren's, drove their own weapons into the beast's flesh, matting white fur with red blood.
The beast stilled, Naofumi threw the tiger off his Shield.
The tiger landed on the ground. It did not rise.
Ren took heavy breaths, relief surging through him. This fight was so unreasonable. In just five minutes, he had experienced the most pain he had ever endured as his bones broke and electricity burned through him. No VR game he had ever played or heard about insisted on such extreme realism for injury.
Turning to behind him, Ren heard the thrum of beats as Blue tried to break his way out of the prison Naofumi made for it.
Before everyone could gather and surround the sphere, it broke suddenly as Blue ran off, perhaps knowing it wouldn't want to be surrounded.
"That…is annoying." Ren complained. "It loves its hit and run tactics. Whenever we attack another tiger, it runs interference and runs away!"
"Whatever, we can deal with it later!" Naofumi barked. "Itsuki looks like he's the closest."
5:06
Beads of sweat fell from Itsuki's forehead as he wracked his brain of ideas. No matter how much he pulled his bowstring, the burning tiger just wouldn't drop. He knew he was doing damage, he had yet to miss, but its armor was too thick.
The red and fire clad tiger made a lunge.
Itsuki had been expecting that. Twisting to the side, he drew his bowstring once again and let the intended skill connect."Sidewinder Shot!" The arrow, guided without any need to aim, flew straight into the creature's eye.
The tiger snarled as the sudden loss of vision caused it to miss the landing. It stumbled, just as Itsuki's other party members launched in their own attacks, with Welst throwing spells and Rojeel slamming his axe against the burning tiger.
Donut however, waited for the tiger to lash out with a claw swipe before making her move. She parried that attack and then cut lashes into its forelimbs.
Yet despite the fact they had disoriented the tiger, the creature still rose, willing to go for yet another round.
Rojeel and Donut barred the way, preventing the tiger from advancing closer.
4:51
Itsuki grit his teeth as he examined the timer. Was this a timer to how long they had to defeat the Wave before they lost? Was this how long they had to fight the Bonus Bosses before they went away? Dimension Wave had timers, sure, but not after the Wave Boss had been defeated. This was new and not knowing the answer gave him a sense of unease.
As he wracked his brain on how to proceed, the sounds of approaching footsteps caught his attention.
Itsuki laughed as he saw Naofumi and Ren, along with their party members, form up beside him.
"There's weak points on the armor!" Ren shouted. He looked like he had been chewed up.
Itsuki let a sigh escape his lips. "Where? We can't see a thing with all that fire!"
"I'll draw its attention! You guys focus on breaking the armor!" Naofumi barked out. He looked every bit like someone who could live up to that plan.
The three Heroes all nodded to each other.
"Hate Reaction!" Naofumi, without hesitation, threw himself into the path of the burning tiger's charge. His shield became a giant bar of soap and a curtain of bubbles, likely to reduce damage he took from burning.
The Shield Hero was bathed in flames and he stood firm and with purpose. The tiger swiped its claws and Naofumi did not so much bat an eye as he brought his Shield to intercept it.
Itsuki had to marvel at the Shield Hero being so utterly fearless as he stood face to face with a burning tiger. Naofumi must have been something like a rescue EMT or firefighter outside of the game to have that kind of nerve. Then again, he was basically near invulnerable!
In retaliation, Naofumi's raccoon girl, Raphtalia, he reminded himself, dove in and scattered three images of herself. The sudden interruption forced its attention to divide as the fake raccoon girls danced around it. This gave an opening.
Just as Itsuki and the others were preparing to make their attack, splinters of something transparent broke off from the Shield Hero, like shards of clear glass erupted out from him. Naofumi staggered back as the Red tiger's claw drew a trickle of blood from his arm before he recovered. "My defense buff just got dispelled!" he shouted.
Itsuki's eyes darted wildly before he saw the culprit. It was that tiger with blue armor who was constantly running around everywhere! It took a leap and landed right next to its burning compatriot.
Cursing, the Bow Hero launched several arrows at the newcomer.
"I think Blue wants to protect Red!" Ren shouted as he lunged to make an attack at the "Blue" white tiger.
Blue responded by flinging him off.
Itsuki shouted as he continued to fire. "What happened?"
"Fueh…" Rishia blurted out. "The blue armored one casted a dispel effect! I can't cast spells! Sometimes they're fizzling out before they leave my hands."
"It appears to be actively counter-spelling," Welst confirmed. He seemed to be taking his time casting spells, perhaps to work past the counter-spell?
Itsuki frowned. He supposed that the advantage of not having access to magic meant that he was relatively unaffected given how weak his magical abilities were, but that also meant that they had little access to healing.
3:41
"Anyone got any ideas?" Itsuki shouted into the fray of melee combatants as they spun and twisted in a deadly mess.
Those demihumans of Naofumi alongside Ren bobbed and weaved past the tiger's body to deliver deft strikes, whilst the Shield Hero stood mere inches away, absorbing blows.
"We're not going to win by splitting our efforts against one or the other!" Ren shouted.
"I agree. I've damaged Red a lot. And he's by far the most dangerous. Blue is annoying, but not nearly as much of a problem!" Itsuki shouted.
"So, the sooner it dies, the better," Naofumi shouted as he leapt in to stand directly in front of the burning Red white tiger. "Can we do something about the fire?" he shouted.
Itsuki checked his cooldowns and his current SP. He had an idea. He switched his bow to the Soap Bow and then called out a skill. "Arrow Rain!" Arrows made of bubbles fell upon the Red tiger, instantly popping and vaporizing into clouds of steam. After all, bubbles and soap were connected elementally with water.
However, this did dilute most of the fire, turning Red into a "mostly" on fire tiger.
"Got him now!" Ren shouted as he and the other melee fighters dove in and bashed away the defensive weakpoints on Red's armor
Blue did not stand idle and went to pounce on someone. It was one of Naofumi's slave girls, the one that was shorter than the others, the one that was part dog. Was her name Keel?
Itsuki, not willing to see a slave injured, switched his bow back to its default state and gathered wind into his bow. "Wind Arrow!" A shaft of winds lined up and pierced Blue's side.
In that instant, that dog girl deftly dodged out of the way, using surprising speed to parry the attack and run out of the way entirely.
Red's armor exploded into a cloud of harmless shrapnel, the fire extinguished as the white tiger became "merely" a large monster.
Weapons and skills were unloaded into the creature's sides, bloodying it.
Red howled in pain.
Itsuki saw fit to break it free from its suffering by throwing an arrow down its throat, causing it to topple over as it choked and died.
2:13
Blue let out an agonizing cry and suddenly Naofumi leapt in front of it's path with a steadfast determination.
Itsuki took several shots, breaking off pieces of its armor.
Blue, realizing what was happening, took a leap backwards and disengaged, but Itsuki saw it attempt to flee.
While some might say a sense of justice would lead to a sense of honor, Itsuki didn't feel the tiger deserved it. He pulled back his bow and used his favorite skill. "Sidewinder Shot!" The arrow glided true and without deviation, angling itself in a specific pattern, that perpendicular to the tiger's face, just at the eye level.
The semi-spectral arrow dove through the tiger's eyes, impaling itself on both. How the skill could do now damage despite that, Itsuki just chalked it up to the logical impossibilities of video gaming.
Blue growled and shook violently, trashing blindly as a cornered animal.
Its armor flew off as everyone ganged up on the beast, tearing off its armor and then destroying it.
The one who got the final blow was Raphtalia, that deadly raccoon woman who Itsuki was sure had something of a fixation on the Shield Hero. She thrust the blade down the tiger's throat, the body falling like a puppet with its strings cut soon after.
0:55
Itsuki turned to the others. "Motoyasu looks to be in trouble." he pointed at the direction the Spear Hero was.
The Spear Hero, a fair distance away, stood over the body of at least one of his women, though Itsuki couldn't see who it was. Further, the rest of his party had seemingly abandoned him, having distanced themselves greatly.
The green armored tiger was currently trying to shove and wrestle the Spear Hero, with Motoyasu bringing his spear against the creature's mouth in a desperate defense against the tiger.
The other Heroes and their parties wasted now time, dashing towards the Spear Hero as he was knocked away.
Itsuki brought his bow first, since he had ranged capabilities. He threw several arrows against the beast's limbs, hoping to draw attention to himself.
The Green tiger did not so much as shift as it mindlessly fixated on Motoyasu.
Seeing the change in the fight, Motoyasu threw the tiger off of his spear.
"Shield Prison!" Naofumi screamed, encasing the tiger in chains and shields. Green furiously attempted to batter its way out.
Motoyasu turned to everyone with a weary look in his eyes, his vision darting to the blonde haired woman behind. "Naofumi, I need healing for Rino's sake!"
"There's less than a minute left and our opponent is still standing, we don't have time to heal!" Ren snapped.
Itsuki's vision turned towards the still woman by Motoyasu's side. As much as he wanted to win and defeat the Waves… it was hard to not feel bad about whoever it was Motoyasu desperately tried to save. After all, good NPCs were worth the investment…especially since all of Motoyasu's other women were so far away. He turned towards Rishia with a glance.
The timid girl whimpered nervously as she began to incant a spell. "Fueh… As source of thy power…." She wasn't anywhere as good as Naofumi, but that wasn't fair of a comparison. Rishia cast a spell, wiping away injuries, but not the worst of them.
"I have a few more potions left!" Naofumi's weasel girl spoke up. Itsuki recalled the name Riana, though that might have been wrong.
"Just let our followers handle it." Itsuki agreed. "We don't have much time."
"We'll focus on the tiger then," Naofumi shouted as he took a position between the girl and the ball of shields.
Meanwhile Rishia and that weasel girl poured something into the woman's mouth before dragging her away.
Motoyasu himself had apparently destroyed a few of the armor breakpoints by himself and suggested everyone who was going to attack the tiger focus on being on its flanks.
"What'll happen when the timer hits 0?" Itsuki spoke up.
"Not a clue… just the wave ends, I think." Naofumi said as he brought himself ready.
0:13
Itsuki saw the time tick down before his eyes just as the shield prison broke.
The tiger leapt out, as furious and enraged as ever, he bounded after Motoyasu.
Naofumi attempted to use a skill to control its agro, but Green ignored it.
The other Heroes and followers broke the creature's armor one weak point at a time, but Green's own relentless aggression made it hard to pin down.
Just as Itsuki was prepared to launch an arrow to break the last weak spot, the timer's countdown reached its end.
0:00
As the tiger leapt, ready to attack its closest target, a bright light engulfed it. Suddenly, the armor it was wearing clattered to the ground like soda cans, the monster wearing the armor having disappeared in the light.
Warily, Itsuki stared at the armor and at the other Heroes. The sky above had turned into the bright blue of midday, yet he had just been fighting mere… seconds ago.
"Where did it go?" The Bow Hero demanded, his eyes twitching at the earliest signs of the tiger returning. It can't have just died when the timer hit zero!
"The armor shouldn't have a disappearing gimmick!" Motoyasu declared, also on guard, standing between the armor and the girls as they tended to his injured party member.
Ren spun, trying to find any evidence of the white tiger appearing. "Did it die? Or maybe it was teleported back the moment the Wave ended? … The Wave is over right?"
Itsuki's eyes traced upwards. The crack in the sky that heralded the Wave was no longer there, so maybe it was over. But if it was, where was the tiger?
Nothing happened as the assembled Heroes and their party members waited for the threat to emerge.
The armor shook lightly, something inside made noise.
"...I think something is inside." One of Ren's party members said.
Naofumi threw a defense buff on himself and then approached the empty armor, everyone's eyes and weapons were trained on the armor in the event this was some sort of deception. Naofumi was the only one who was willing to touch it.
Naofumi slightly shifted the armor and out came a small white tiger cub.
Itsuki just balked. It was seemingly injured but his UI gave it a name. "It's the white tiger clone that wore the armor…"
"Wait, what?" Ren sputtered as he walked over, just as incredulous at the scene as everyone else. "Why is it a tiger cub now? That makes no sense whatsoever!"
None of the Heroes seemed to know what to make of the tiger.
The white tiger growled and hissed at Ren. Even going so far as to swipe at him with its tiny paws made it seem like a kitten than a monster. "It doesn't hurt, but I don't like it."
Naofumi approached the thing and it immediately stopped growling. It looked up at the Shield Hero with timid eyes and Naofumi, almost as if he had an ESPer ability that calmed animals, simply rubbed its head and made it purr.
Itsuki looked at the other Heroes, waiting for confirmation.
Motoyasu approached Naofumi and the tiger cub immediately started to growl once again.
Only Naofumi taking the white tiger cub into his arms as he picked it up soothed the beast.
Itsuki blinked several times. He wondered if Naofumi, especially given his tendencies with demihumans and now animals, probably had that as a superpower… maybe something to ask of later. For now Itsuki had something more important to ask Naofumi.
"Can I say the tiger cub is my share of the rewards so Naofumi can take it?"
"Not on your life," Naofumi said bluntly.
Itsuki's shoulders sagged. "Can't blame a guy for trying."
Motoyasu stared at the repurposed building turned into a makeshift hospital, waiting desperately for word from the physicians. Though he felt like roadkill, his thoughts wandered back to the others who were there. He was injured, heavily from fending off an unkillable tiger by himself, but others were in need of aid… If only he could get that breakthrough and cast healing magic himself!
And yet, nothing happened. No one came out. The agony of what he felt for his companions sickened him enough that he knew he had to think about something else, anything else.
Motoyasu's gaze towards the village that had been Lute. Just in view was the body of a massive zombie that had crushed several houses in its death throes, with a family with children weeping over the charred remains of the buildings. Armed guards were situated nearby the remains of the collapsed village well as they passed out water; several men were fighting over their placement in line. And worst of all, Motoyasu could see the priests hovering over still bodies hidden under white sheets.
In his old life, the Spear Hero had only seen scenes like this before on a screen; being here, having fought for this place, it was suddenly real. They had saved Lute, but it was not perfect; there were still losses that made Motoyasu feel like a sword had been driven through his heart. No game he had ever played before made him feel like this.
What if those bodies were his teammates instead of people he had no idea of? What if he saw Rino there? Rino who had suffered so much, yet still tried to smile, to get up. Rino who wanted to help others despite not having the status or talent. Rino who trusted him…
Motoyasu felt heart shudder. No, Rino was an NPC. She wasn't real, no matter how much he wanted to invest in her, no matter how much he wanted to spend just talking with her. She was simply programmed to be more brash and brazen than the other NPC's he obtained, right? He shouldn't worry, nothing would have been lost if she really died, other than her quest hooks.
The others were the same, weren't they?
Motoyasu shook his head. He didn't want to think about it.
A moment later, Naofumi stepped out of the tent with an agitated expression.
"How are they!?" Motoyasu sputtered out. He was desperate to know.
Naofumi let out a sigh. "There's nothing permanent on the other two girls." For some reason he seemed almost bothered saying that. "I'm pretty sure they were just overreacting, so I just told them to get their asses out of the tent."
Motoyasu let out a sigh of relief. "Well, I guess that's right, the battle was rough and my party had to retreat. It's… probably good there is nothing major." He recalled back during the battle that during the scuffle, that two of the other girls got hit by a side swipe and Malty had called for a retreat to secure them, but Motoyasu stayed behind because it meant Rino would have been left behind if he hadn't. But his expression darkened he as mulled over Naofumi's words. "Wait, you're not including Rino in that?"
Naofumi shook his head. "She's still unconscious, but she shouldn't suffer any long term consequences. The burns are the worst of it."
Motoyasu thought back to the battle, where Myne had bathed the other girl in flames because… the tiger scared her? She had a good reason, certainly…"So, how bad was it?
Naofumi shook his head. "Her wounds should be recovered since we used healing magic and there were no curses involved, I don't think there's anything permanent after the healing magic patched her up."
The Spear Hero looked Naofumi in the eye. He was never going to make fun of Naofumi for having exclusively healing and support magic ever again, not when he wished he had that power himself. He let out a sigh. "I guess that's all that could be asked for."
Naofumi pointed at a nearby building, a small restaurant that had been relatively untouched by the fighting. "We have plenty of things to discuss, now that I'm done helping here," he noted.
With his mind more at ease, Motoyasu followed the Shield Hero into the restaurant. Ren and Itsuki were already there, discussing something about where dragons and griffins could have been found. Abruptly, they stopped the moment they noticed Motoyasu and Naofumi enter.
All Four Heroes turned to face each other, a small silence forming as everyone prepared what they wanted to say.
"So, so you called them invaders? I know the whole point of Dimension Wave is that monsters from other worlds are attacking the world the characters lived in, but you give me the impression that it's a bit more than that." Itsuki was the one to speak up, breaking the ice.
Motoyasu took a seat. The building had survived and now its owners were loaning it to the Crown for its soldiers and currently, the Heroes.
Naofumi was the one to respond to the question, perhaps because he was the one who knew the most. "Yeah. Basically, as far as I know, on some occasions there's a… bonus boss with a timer with invaders coming from elsewhere. You don't have to win, you just have to wait out the timer," he said all that behind clenched teeth.
"So, high risk, high reward?" Ren observed.
Motoyasu shook his head, wishing that he did not have to risk anything. "The rewards may not be worth it."
All eyes hovered towards the tiger cub who was currently dozing off in a small cage. It looked almost too innocent now, despite earlier having broken Motoyasu's wrist and having mauled Rino. It just seemed unreal that that little thing was that mindless monster he had fought. He wanted to strangle it, yet it was too… innocent seeming.
"That did not happen in my game," Itsuki replied. "There was nothing like that. Why did the monster we were fighting turn into a tiger cub!?"
"They're not just white tigers though," Motoyasu added. "Their names, they're called 'white tiger clones'. I think that means someone or something… created them?" It was just a hunch, but a name like that in a videogame was often significant, often the result of a programmer letting the UI spoil something or meant to pepper plot hooks into the player's mind.
"Which brings up the question of why someone would clone them and why?" Ren offered. "And they came in drop pods. I've played Brave Star Online enough to know that their technology caps out at Steampunk and earlier industrial level. They have some weird stuff that allows for monster alchemy, but I don't see how they could have made those pods the tigers came in. "
"I had Welst go through them," Itsuki provided. "He says he can't make heads or tails of the pods because they're heavily damaged, but he identified some sort of medical apparatus in the pods, something with feeding tubes and potion bottles. He thinks they were supplied drugs to sedate or enrage them as need be."
Motoyasu felt very uncomfortable listening to this. He knew he wasn't the brightest person in the world, but even he knew there was something… unnatural here. The monsters in Emerald Online were simply that; sometimes they had equipment that was looted, but the tigers were very deliberate. "So, someone sent them after us?" he concluded. "Like, those things were launched, probably aiming at us."
Naofumi gave him a nod. "It seems so. No idea who would do that, though. They came from the crack, they flew out from them and towards where you guys were. They completely ignored me though, so I don't think they were targeting Heroes."
While no one said anything about it, Motoyasu had to wonder. Who was on the other side of the tear in the sky?
Ren turned to Motoyasu. "You did say the armor was familiar. How certain are you now?"
Motoyasu frowned. "Well, they're the exact same abilities used by a game I played… just it's the wrong game. It's not even from the right genre."
There were skeptical glances.
"Basically the armor design and their effects come from a… kungfu platformer. You're supposed to use one armor's powers to defeat another's… Green for instance cancels out Red's gimmick entirely, while Blue disrupts Green's regeneration effect. I don't know why tigers have armor themed like that or where the tigers come from, but the armor is basically right out of a different video game entirely."
"Like Megaman," Naofumi muttered, probably referencing something in his world.
"So, we have someone who is deliberately attempting to attack us with presumably disposable artificially created monsters via drop pod," Itsuki observed. "And they're referencing a video game franchise that is unrelated to the games we thought we were playing?"
Ren shook his head. "Could be a shout-out. Or a developer gag."
Itsuki seemed to be relieved to hear that. "That could explain why it takes meeting specific requirements to challenge them. Maybe we're going down a secret route?"
Naofumi gave them both a hard scowl.
Motoyasu blinked several times as Naofumi looked like he wanted to tear into both of them, with or without the ability to do damage. It occurred to him, the Shield Hero was always different from the others, not just because of his inability to fight. No, Naofumi absolutely loathed comparing the world to the game, because he saw the world as real. That's why he focused so hard on being so over prepared and why he went out of his way to cut down on casualties in the village. It's why he did not value the same things as the others.
Which begged the question, where did Motoyasu stand in comparison?
"Log out," Naofumi demanded.
"Not this again, Naofumi!" Ren snapped, returning a harsh glance.
"If you think I am insane, do you think the rest of us are liars?" Naofumi spat out. "We don't even come from the same Japan!"
Feeling a fight coming on, Motoyasu stepped between them. "Hey guys, we probably should divvy up the loot, right?" he tried to put on his most cheerful tone. "We're better off fighting over what drops we get, aren't we?"
Both Ren and Naofumi broke away from each other.
Itsuki spoke up. "So, obviously, the drop pods go to one each. They're mostly intact, so I say we each loot one and we can decide what we do with it on our own accord."
"Remember our arrangement?" Naofumi pointed out.
Itsuki frowned. "I'll have Donut cut it in half. She'll eagerly do it too even if it means spending all day and night hammering away at it."
Motoyasu nodded, seeing that as reasonable. "So, we've already divided the chimera loot, what about these tigers? We've got three dead and one…" He pointed to the cage where the tiger cub slept. "And what about the armor pieces? Three ruined and one partially intact."
Itsuki frowned, probably still thinking about the loot division. "I guess we each take the spoils from one tiger?" he suggested. "And that means Naofumi gets half of the tiger I'm looting."
Naofumi gave him a grunt.
"Can I have the head? You take more of the pelt." Itsuki suggested back.
Naofumi gave a grunt of affirmation. "Fine."
Motoyasu let out a sigh of relief. That was one potential fight avoided entirely. "Okay, so, I remember each tiger has its own color. And oddly, each of us has their own color. You guys up for dividing who gets what tiger's loot by the color of armor they wore? You'd get everything from that tiger: their materials and the armor they wore."
"That means I get blue's and you get the red one's," Ren replied. "I'm perfectly fine with that, but that leaves yellow and green to sort out. And Itsuki and Naofumi both prefer green."
"I'll take yellow's loot… and give half of that to Naofumi," Itsuki said abruptly. "I am not taking that little monster. And besides, if you raise that monster, you'll want the armor anyways."
Naofumi nodded. "We can't split the kitten without killing it and I don't think its materials will be very valuable."
There was some more nitpicking about what loot would be handed where, but ultimately the Heroes finished assigning the spoils of war.
It was here, they turned from the past towards the future.
"So, it's the Ghost Ship wave next, right?" Motoyasu asked the others.
Everyone gave a nod. Just like the Chimera everyone was sure this was the next boss. Perfect.
"So let's work on our plan to destroy the ship." Itsuki declared eagerly. "I think we should get siege equipment so we can shoot down the boat to then summon the soul eater."
"No, no. You have to kill the captain to summon the Soul Eater."
"...What about the Kraken?" Motoyasu asked wearily. Neither Itsuki nor Ren had the same version for summoning the Soul Eater that they all knew existed.
"What Kraken?" Itsuki said.
Naofumi gave everyone else a frustrated scowl.
"So we kill the captain?"
"Kraken?"
"Destroy the ship!"
Motoyasu immediately regretted it as he argued with Itsuki and Ren again in a loop.
"Look, in my game, you had to destroy the ship!" Itsuki said.
"What if there's a weak point on the ship you can't reach without boarding it?" Ren suggested.
"There isn't anything like that in the Dimension Wave I know!" Itsuki replied back.
Thankfully, Naofumi seemed to have a way to resolve it. "In the book, the Heroes suggested all of these options. They killed the captain, tried to blow up the ship, and even tried to kill the Kraken, all at the same time. Apparently, the boss has to be revealed because it hides in the shadows of the ship and you need light magic to reveal it," he sighed. "I don't know if that's how you'll reveal it, but I do have a bigger concern than the boss."
"Bigger than the Boss of the Next Wave?" Motoyasu frowned.
"It's where the first invader showed up in the books."
All four Heroes gave serious looks, none eager to repeat what had happened to day. "How much of a big deal is the invader?" Itsuki asked.
Naofumi shrugged. "If my information holds out, we'll be fighting a person. This woman wears a black kimono and bears a "Princess" cut on her head. She wields a fan and comes with a bunch of Skill like abilities instead of spells. One of her abilities is a defense piercing attack. " He seemed oddly hesitant for some reason. "She's incredibly strong. We're supposed to meet her in the next wave and the one after that."
"So we can't kill her because she's meant to show up later?" Motoyasu asked before thinking about it more. "Or is she so strong that we can't kill her?"
"More the latter, I think. She revealed herself by one-shotting the boss's second form," Naofumi agreed. "The second meeting in the book came after a truly ludicrous amount of training, so the fight was more fair. I don't think she actually grew in power between meetings."
The other three Heroes were silently very concerned. Motoyasu in particular felt very uncomfortable with the idea that their next opponent would be an absurdly powerful woman who might outclass them all. "If she has Skills, does that mean she's a Hero?" he asked.
"That is so unfair," Itsuki voiced everyone's thoughts.
"So, is there anything we can do to make it easier for ourselves?" Ren asked.
Naofumi nodded. "Get MP damage weapons. I don't know how it works, but she has an extreme vulnerability to MP damage. Meeting that woman might not happen at all, but it's a good idea to have a countermeasure for her in the first place."
"Soul Eater weapons would be the best MP damage conversion," Ren said. "Because that's the next boss, all we have to do is absorb the materials before we engage the woman."
Itsuki countered. "But if it's on the ghost ship, we might not be able to loot it since the battle's mid-air. Dimension Wave made the loot teleport to you because of how mobile the fight was and I don't know if that'll hold true here."
Motoyasu looked at the medicinal herbs pasted on to his wrist. He had been injured because he had been blindsided and as a result things were… not great around his party. Someone almost died. He was not going to let things go to chance, not again. "Naofumi, do you know any alternative sources?"
The Shield Hero let out a sigh. "Erhard's shop has some, but they're quite fragile from what I heard. In the book, one of the followers used one and it melted against the invader."
Motoyasu nodded. "Good thing our weapons are indestructible. So, what, do we copy or just absorb a broken version of them?"
"That's not going to help me as much, unless I try something very specific with Erhard." Naofumi then turned his head upwards. "Of course, if you really want Soul Eater weapons, you could negotiate with the Zeltoble Dark Guild. Apparently, they domesticate Soul Eaters. An associate spoke about them when I was looking for Soul Eater related materials."
"What the hell do people need with soul eaters?" Itsuki slammed a fist into the table.
A bit of information came up in Motoyasu's mind, something he overheard his noble raised party members bring up. "Executions. Really nasty stuff reserved for the worst criminals. They destroy your soul to kill you off for good, no chance of coming back."
Both Ren and Itsuki turned visibly green.
"I guess that makes sense…"
"If the crime is bad enough…"
Motoyasu frowned. He did not want to think about hiring professional executioners for a power up, but if he had to…. "So, if we want to counter the invader next Wave, we need MP damage weapons. It doesn't matter how we get them specifically, but the best are Soul Eater series," he summarized. "Is there anything else we could do?"
"I plan to expand my party with some monsters." Naofumi replied, turning to the cage behind him.
Motoyasu gave a look of distaste. Whatever, that tiger wasn't his problem anymore. "And Beryl wants a filolial or two," he tried to stick to the topic.
"I'll introduce you to my provider when we're back in town," Naofumi promised.
Motoyasu warmed to the idea. If he had one of those bird mounts, he'd be a much better combatant. Perhaps if he had one today, things would have been different.
His musings were interrupted by Ren. The Sword Hero hissed something. "I intend to get stronger as well… I think I'm leaning towards expanding my party with dragons. I don't know for sure if I'll get the eggs by the next meeting, but I'm definitely leaning towards doing that."
"...Sweet!" Itsuki declared. "Hm, if everyone's getting animals, I might want to look into something. Griffins, maybe? No one else has those, right?"
For some reason, Naofumi gave Ren a short lived but harsh scowl, the kind he only brought up against Motoyasu when they had first met. "So, Ren, are you willing to take up my offer now? That leaf is still in my pack." Oh, Naofumi was probably still bitter about Ren turning down sharing his power up method.
Ren shook his head. "Maybe later." He sounded more like he meant "never".
Naofumi glowered.
Motoyasu flexed his fingers and found that they weren't stiff anymore. He took up a fork and stabbed it into the cut of meat that had been served to them. Injured and worried as he was, the Spear Hero was starved.
Both Ren and Itsuki gave him sickened looks as he dug into the complimentary "house special" they had been given.
"What? It's just frog," Motoyasu defended.
"They're poisonous!" Itsuki declared. "And it's… a frog. From a swamp."
Motoyasu shrugged. "So?, it's just like blowfish! Just remove the poison glands and it's safe. And because the animal is poisonous it often doesn't have tough meat since it's not expected to run away from or fight off predators. I think it's been thoroughly washed too, because the swamp stink isn't there."
Now it was Naofumi's turn to give him a double take, as if he didn't expect that. "Sometimes, Motoyasu, I don't even know what to expect of you."
"...I may have once tried to make a fancy dinner or two to flatter my…" Motoyasu shook his head. Those two were people he didn't want to remember the names of. "Either way, I had to look it up. It's not that uncommon in some places, especially if you're going to a French restaurant." He stabbed the frog meat and felt the soft flesh melt in mouth. "The inventor of this recipe was a genius."
"That he is," Naofumi said flatly as he took a bite of his own meat.
Both Ren and Itsuki just pushed their plates away.
"You two are really children," Naofumi rolled his eyes.
Motoyasu stifled a chuckle. Right, the other two were the younger members in the group. Sometimes he forgot about that.
After the meeting, the four Heroes went to divvy up the loot as best they could. Because the King wanted them all present in the Castle Town, there was not enough time to do a thorough looting. Further, the bodies of both the Chimera and the three tigers each needed to be put in their own wagons. And that was not factoring the drop pods the tigers came in or the armor they wore..
In short, the Heroes opted to simply leave the bodies behind and loot them tomorrow. Naofumi asked the village elder to keep the bodies and equipment within Lute for safe keeping. Meanwhile, the Heroes would simply take the heads now because they unlocked powerful abilities. Naofumi got the snake head, Itsuki took the ram, Ren took the dragon head, and Motoyasu took the lion head.
Chimera Lion Spear Unlocked
[Locked] Equip Bonus: Attack +5, Skill: "Lion's Pride"
Lion's Pride:
Drastically increase the power of your next skill or spell. Massively increase MP, SP, or HP cost of next ability.
This was a great skill, since it was always useful, especially if you wanted to defeat an enemy as fast as possible and had the resources to spend.
Further, as Motoyasu had a White Tiger Clone to butcher, he took its head.
White Tiger Clone Spear Unlocked
[Locked] Equip Bonus: Skill: "Chain Spear"
Special Equip Effect: Agility Increase (small), Climbing Skill Increase (medium), Fall Damage Resistance (major)
Chain Spear:
Launch spear tip at target. The spear tip on impact initiates a grapple and allows the wielder to either pull themselves forward or pull the opponent back.
Chain Spear sounded interesting. Enough that Motoyasu was wondering if it could be used for more than just fighting. Given the equipment effects, the spear might have been meant for climbing. The Spear Hero was not complaining however, the more skills and niche powers he had, the less likely he would have a repeat of today's events.
After that Motoyasu asked a soldier where the rest of his party was. Rino was still in the medical building, but the other girls were already released. Lesty, Myne, and the three other girls who were following him should have been inside.
Motoyasu found his girls in a borrowed building, some sort of small rental housing for adventurers. The building was missing a wall, but the Spear Hero knocked on the door. "Myne, Lesty, anyone?" he called out in front of the door.
There was unintelligible murmuring inside that ceased before the door was opened.
"Motoyasu!" Myne gave him a cheery smile. "It's so good to see the victorious Hero!"
Motoyasu did not feel all that victorious, but he tried to look proud. "Rino is fine. Naofumi managed to stabilize her."
"Is she?" Lesty said, approaching. "I'm glad to hear that. That tiger was relentless!"
Motoyasu nodded, pushing away the bad memories of the battle. "Rino got away with burns, but she'll be fine, according to Naofumi."
Myne's expression shifted to a frown. She might have been bothered by nearly burning Rino alive, yet a part of the Spear Hero's gut could read something else. "I… am sorry for having burned her," she managed, yet she didn't sound sorry.
Motoyasu felt something stir within his guts, something that he felt like he didn't want to see. "You were panicking, right? The tiger was going to attack you so you threw fire at it and missed?"
"Yeah, that's exactly what happened…" Myne said in a dismissive tone.
A dark thought slipped in Motoyasu's mind. Having recently thought of the girls he wanted to forget, the attitude Myne gave him… reminded him suspiciously of how those two girls often were to each other. Was Myne… jealous of Rino? Was that why she wasn't so broken up about accidentally hurting her. "Myne, I'm sorry things ended up that way in the fight. I really should have done better."
"You should!" Lesty added cheerily. "But that's all in the past now, isn't it?"
"Indeed, all in the past now." Myne said. She gestured to the Spear Hero to enter into the building.
One of the other girls was currently mixing a beverage by crushing a small fruit into a wooden mug. "It's ready, Myne!" she sounded eager.
Motoyasu took the mug in his hands. The beverage frothed unsteadily in his grip. "Uh, what is it?"
"It's made from Ricolu fruit," Myne said with a grin. "It'll help you relax."
Motoyasu took one look at the mug. He didn't know much about the fruit, other than it was alcoholic and used to make drinks very quickly. His girls probably thought he needed some liquid courage to cope with what happened. Yeah, maybe a drink was exactly what he needed.
The entire reason for the white tiger cub came as a realization of what plot hooks would occur if I threw it in. It was not originally intended, but this introduces the entire ruleset about what happens if you're stuck in another world, namely level reset. Plus, having one alive has implications.
Also, it made sense, at least one was going to survive since Ren isn't powered up to max.
As for Malty and the others, yeah, that happened.