Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad helping me with SPAG edit! Also special thanks to Angel Wraith for reading my rough draft and provide important feedbacks.
More author note at the end for people who are interested to see me blabber some more.
For anyone bamboozled by this chapter's title, it's a reference to the manga/anime series 'Bokurano:Ours', and the anime opening song 'uninstall'. Definitely recommend everyone listening to this song while reading this chapter (and the next one).
I hate you.
Three short words, yet packing a maelstrom worthy of negative emotion. But that's not what truly chills the princess right to the bone.
The way the Sword Hero says those words, devoid of even a hint of malice, almost like he's stating a fact like water is wet. The lack of aggression only makes the boy's declaration more horrifying to Mein, for she realizes his distaste towards Naofumi is almost objective.
Summoned Heroes have been hailed as the world's saviors all the way back since the days of the seven old kingdoms. But the Wave of Catastrophe has happened too many times in the world. It brought destruction and suffering to beggars and kings alike, true. But they are always stopped by the Legendary Heroes in the end, even amidst certain setbacks where heroes cause destruction in the world instead of preventing it. The infamous King of Rape from sixty years ago immediately come to mind.
That's why modern rulers see them more as another strategic resource to be exploited in addition to badge of bragging right, no different than another Mithril vein discovered under some mountain.
But that's under the assumption of at least one of the summoned heroes will save the day in the end. Nobody bothered to ask the question: What would happen if all four summoned heroes are incompetent, or flat out insane? Kill all four, summon the next batch and cross their fingers hoping the new heroes are better?
It seems like their current cycle is prepared to answer the question. The princess simply wishes she isn't right in the middle of the ensuing storm.
Chapter 35: Bokurano Uninstall
Mein finally has a good chance to look at the Sword Hero's party. Out of them, two wear the traveling robes of mages, one has a set of Melromarc knight's heavy armor, and the last one has a suit of chainmail over leather. All of them fidget on their feet, eyes nervously darting between the standoff of the heroes in quick succession. It's clear the Sword Hero's party also starts to notice the hero they serve and protect isn't simply your average arrogant and rude boy.
Naofumi's eyes widen at Ren's declaration. His shock is quickly replaced by a suppressed anger as his brows slam inward while his eyes shrink into a squint. The young man's voice takes a pitch higher just like when he talked to Father at the end of the 2nd Wave celebration. Not quite a hiss, but letting his displeasure be known by all who hear him. "This isn't a game, damn it. You know better yourself, Ren."
"You are right. This is no game, because we are all dead and nothing matters." The Sword Hero maintains his fighting stance, not even shaking his shoulders. His delusion clearly isn't swayed by Naofumi's words. "I told you I'll see to its end. I intend to follow through, even when one of you gets in my way."
"Guess time for talk is over. Allow me to speak your language." Naofumi bites down on his lips and stands lower. He changes the legendary shield into the multi-layered slab of stone he is fond of using. He squirts his shoulders, hiding most of his body behind the large shield as he runs forward. "[Shield Charge]."
The Sword Hero meets Naofumi with a sprint of his own. The sword in his hand, which was a regular sized one handed sword, turns into a claymore. His feet spin on the ground at the end of his charge when he's about to collide with Naofumi's shield, arms swinging with the momentum and sweeps out his claymore into a horizontal slash. "[Sweep Draw]."
Metal swords and stone shields collide together with a loud bang. Both heroes take three steps back after their first exchange, evenly matched for their initial confrontation.
The noise is loud enough to make Mein's teeth ache. How long till they draw the dragon's attention to themselves, if the heroes keep going like this?
She looks at Gaston's bird Wolfgang. Adult filorials tend to be naturally alert against all dragon kinds, with them being natural enemies to each other. She notices the bird is looking away from the battle, seemingly in a trance. She gives a push against its large fluffy head, but the bird doesn't respond.
It could be nothing. The bird could simply have gone to sleep standing up with his exhaustion. Filorials are known to do that, even if their preferred method of sleeping is curling together with those in their flock. But Wolfgang's unusual behavior makes the princess feel like they are being watched by something in the darkness. Likely the dragon dwelling on this mountain.
Mein quickly turns to the raccoon girl in their party and grabs her hand. "Raphtalia, can you climb trees?"
The raccoon girl doesn't seem to expect Mein's question. She ends up jumping on her feet before answering. "I can climb trees. Pretty good."
"Go up to one of the taller trees, and call us if you see some big shadow fly over our head." Mein points to one of the tallest trees around the clearing. It's not an ideal arrangement, since by the time Raphtalia spots the dragon in the dead of the night, it may already be too late for them to run. But it's better than nothing, when the adults of their party need to be ready to jump in and break the heroes up.
Raphtalia's face turns from Mein to the battle between heroes, and back to the princess. She nods her head and quickly scampers to one of the trees. The girl disappears into the branches and leaves with a few nimble leaps and swings. She's more like a monkey than a raccoon demi-human.
Mein turns her attention back to the duel between her Naofumi and Ren. The Sword Hero is on the offense, as to be expected. Ren's metal claymore falls on Naofumi's shield again and again like a hammer. Sparks seem to fly every time the two legendary weapons clash together.
Naofumi braces himself for an overhead smash from the Sword Hero. As the claymore is about to connect, a black ripple of mist suddenly forms on the surface of the stone tablet. Two heads of the Wavehound emerge from the mist and bite onto Ren's claymore with their sharp fangs, locking it in place.
The Shield Hero quickly opens his cloak while [Dog Bite] is active, letting the angry chomping spheres of teeth out.
"Tsk." Ren scrunches up his face. With a twirl of his hand the claymore shrinks down into an epee. The much smaller and softer needle of a blade easily escapes the maws of the Wave hound. The boy hero quickly retracts his steps to get away from the hungry abominations. With a second twirl of his hand, the tip of his epee spiral in front of the rubber spheres of pain. Ripples of bright green circle firing out of his sword tip are almost blinding in the dark night. "[Mind Stare]."
The balloons' eyes start to twirl like the tip of the sword, as their body drops down to the earth. Even eldritch abominations disguised as common monsters aren't immune to mind affecting ability. Ren quickly raises his sword above his head while the balloons are paralyzed, which now takes the form of a white one handed longsword. "[Swords of Revealing Light]."
Multiple swords constructed of pure light descent from above. But instead of piercing the monsters, they simply fall right around them. Brilliant white sparks emit from the sword, freezing the confused balloons on the ground.
Judging from the amount of weapon arts, and personal abilities the Sword Hero used so far, he is clearly not an amateur like the Spear Hero. But while he is busy dealing with the balloons, Naofumi manages to erect his [Shield Prison] and traps Ren inside.
"[Shield Change], [Geo Shield V]." With Naofumi's command, the shields made of green energy transform into large slabs of multi-layered stone tablets. He lets his arms drop onto the side of his body and walks to Ren's temporary prison. "Can we stop this pointless fight and talk now?"
"Stone shield? Not your needle shield?" The Sword Hero's voice is more than a little muffled. Somehow, the boy's annoyance is still audible even through a solid wall of stone surrounding him. "How do you plan to win this duel if you don't deal damage to me?"
"My plan was never to 'win' some pointless duel to begin with!" Naofumi shrugs his shoulder with the intensity of throwing a weapon. "I don't want to beat you down. I want you to forget about your theory about death and afterlife, and think things over before you go provoke a flying, fire breathing dragon! What if the dragon flies down to the town and burns it down!? You want to turn this into the Desolation of Smaug!?"
The Sword Hero is silent for a few beats, it almost makes the princess in disguise wonder if her Naofumi manages to get through the thick skull of the boy hero.
"Stand back. This is the first time I will use this ability. [One Letter Stone Cutter]." Ren's warning makes Naofumi instantly bring his shield back up. With a loud metallic echo, the stone wall facing Naofumi's side suddenly split into two as a sharp blade cut through like butter. The remaining shockwave continues on and crashes into Naofumi's shield, making him stumble on his feet.
As the Sword Hero steps out of the new useless and slowly crumbling prison, Mein notices his sword changed again. Its length almost rivals the claymore he was using at the start, but with an edge only on a single side and a slightly curved blade.
The legendary sword is seriously troublesome, with how versatile it changes forms.
"Words... Promises... They are meaningless without the strength to back it up." The Sword Hero slowly walks forward, his eyes unfocused like he's thinking about something else beside the duel he himself initiated. With a shake of his head, the boy looks at the Shield Hero again. "But you already learned it from your treatment, didn't you?"
"Warmup's over." The Sword Hero lowers his body, obviously ready for the second round. "I don't blame you for cheating, even if I hate your actions. It was bad luck you are stuck with a shield. But I'm still going to prove that raw skill trumps over exploitation."
"Fine, let's keep doing this, till the dragon decides enough is enough, flies down and roasts us all," Naofumi spits on the ground and squares his shoulders again, not discouraged about Ren neutralizing his only means to attack with his balloons.
The Shield Hero initiates another [Shield Charge] to close in the distance, but the Sword Hero doesn't meet him in the middle this time. While Naofumi is about five men's height away from Ren, he suddenly spins his heel and turns around while slashing his sword at air. "[Rude Sword]."
The princess turned adventurer briefly wonders if the younger hero finally lost it. Not only does he turn his back against a charging enemy, he seems to also be fighting against something invisible. But to her surprise, something seems to knock Naofumi out of his [Shield Charge]. The Shield Hero's feet suddenly stumbles below his leg as he tumbles head first right in front of Ren.
Mein's teeth start to ache again, when it's clear her Naofumi is now off guard with his shield fumbled to the side.
The Sword Hero doesn't waste this opportunity as the long katana changes into the heavy claymore once again. Using his wind up momentum, he effortlessly rolls his previous ability into an upwards diagonal strike. With a loud crack, the edge of the sword connects true with Naofumi's helmet. The power behind the collision is enough to knock him spinning back a good ten paces.
Ren doesn't seem to be winded by using a series of abilities. The boy immediately stabs his sword into the ground and sends out half a dozen crescent shaped shockwaves towards Naofumi. "[Earth Run]."
"Air- *cough*... Strike Shield." Naofumi manages to erect a barrier while he is still rolling and coughing on the ground. The shockwaves collide with the ethereal shield, shattering it after a short delay and continues surging towards the Shield Hero. Luckily for Naofumi, he manages to right himself and holds his shield up ready to take the hit.
The Sword Hero spins around on his feet and slash at the air again, and Naofumi stumbles once more like someone hit him with a hammer on the back. The weakened shockwave connects with him, sending him tumbling on the ground once more.
What's going on here? It's almost like someone is hiding behind the Shield Hero, and hitting him with a wind spell every time the Sword Hero turns around.
The princess in disguise turns her eyes to look at the Shield Hero's party. All four of them are standing opposite to her, having the same puzzled expression no doubt on her own face. A hidden, six party member perhaps? Maybe some kind of tamed monster like her Naofumi's balloons, or that blasted gluttonous devil bird? Something that can either turn invisible, or shoot compressed air...
Wait a second, that's it!
"Master Naofumi! He's shooting vacuum cuts like a boomerang at your back when he turns around!"
Mein doesn't know if shouting Ren's trick to her Naofumi on top of her lungs will help anything, but it still makes her feel like she's contributing to the fight in some way. The thought of watching the Shield Hero being smashed into a pulp by the Sword Hero makes her chest feel tight.
Naofumi rolls up and gives her a quick nod. He changes the shield on his arm into a rope shield and tosses it to one of the trees to his right. The Shield Hero pulls himself off the ground as the Sword Hero fires out another barrage of shockwaves.
"[Air Strike Sword]." Ren fires a vacuum cut at Naofumi's rope, cutting it before the Shield Hero makes it to the tree line.
Naofumi drops onto the ground with a roll, but no longer on the path of the Sword Hero's shockwave attack. He quickly gets back to his feet as a whirlwind of leaves begin to surround him. "[Leaf Shield V]."
Before they fought the Wave, this skill was only good for knocking smaller flying monsters away. But now with Naofumi having a chance to power up his shield forms, it looks like a small tornado of leaves and wind surrounds him.
Naofumi changes into his stone shield again to initiate another [Shield Charge]. The Sword Hero tries to hit his back with another one of his boomerang vacuum cuts. Sure enough, Mein can see the ripple of leaves and wind on Naofumi's back suddenly splashes outward, like an invisible blade is trying to slash through. But the older hero doesn't stumble on his feet this time and he runs straight into the younger hero, tossing Ren onto his back this time.
"[Meteor Sword]." Ren rolls to his knees and fires a shining star-shaped energy projectile against Naofumi's shield, forcing him to hide behind his shield instead of pressing on with the advantage.
"[Stone Cold Stronghold]." Naofumi slams the lower tip of his shield onto the ground before the star shaped energy ball connects. A light, shimmering circle of blue light burst out of existence before a loud boom echoes out of the clearing, tossing the younger hero further back.
Ren buries his blade into the ground like an anchor to stop his unwanted flight. He looks up and frowns when he sees Naofumi emerging from the smoke, looking no worse for wear from what must be his strongest attack. "I don't remember this ability from Brave Star Online."
"I didn't expect a fully limit broken [Geo Shield] to give me an extra ability either, but here we go." Naofumi shrugs his shoulders, a small white light bursts out from his left hand and bathes his body within the gentle glow, promptly healing him back to full health. "The way I see it, we are evenly matched. I obviously can't deal damage to you without any ATK, and you can only chip away at my health. I can heal right back up. Why don't we go back to the town before the dragon comes at us? If you want to fight some more, we can do it far away from a dragon's nest."
"You really think I can't hurt you?" Ren wipes his mouth with the back of his hand, he slowly stands up on his feet again. His breath was a little more ragged compared to the start of combat. A good indication of him slowly running low on stamina. "Guess I should go full out before I run empty."
Is the Sword Hero bluffing? A seasoned fighter at the top of common level range would be exhausted with the amount of abilities he's been tossing around. He only managed to chip away less than a fifth of Naofumi's HP - and that's counting two solid hits when he caught Naofumi off guard with his [Rude Sword]. He can't still have more high damage abilities in his reserve to threaten the older hero, or the stamina needed to use them.
Can he?
"What do you mean?" Naofumi scrapes his left foot on the grass while pointing his finger at the edge of the shimmering blue circle on the ground. "You weren't hurting me that much before I got my [Stone Cold Stronghold] up. And this ability boosts my defense the longer I stay in this circle."
"There is this system called 'Ability Combo' in Brave Star Online where I can exponentially increase the damage of my ability when I execute them in a certain order and rhythm. I didn't want to use it at first, since I don't want to kill you by accident." Ren's words makes Naofumi's eyes go wide, he holds the legendary sword above his head and fires out the star shaped energy projectile again. "But now, I have no choice! [Meteor Sword]!"
The Shield Hero seems to realize what the younger hero is talking about, as he tries to run out of his protective circle instead of bracing for the skill. But he is caught in the middle when Ren activates his second ability. Multiple swords of pure white light shimmer into existence, freezing both the Shield Hero and the star shaped energy blast. "[Swords of Revealing Light]."
A crisp 'ping' sound seems to echo in Mein's head, rather than through her ears.
"[Air Strike Sword]." While Naofumi is caught inside the presumed ability combo, Ren fires a vacuum cut at the glowing ethereal sword in the middle. The resulting explosion is both much brighter and louder than the first blast, wherein the resulting shockwave knocks Mein and many others clear off their feet.
Among the chaos, the princess clearly heard the howl of pain from her Naofumi. It's different from the normal grunts, or cough one makes in battle. That's the sound of someone who gets truly hurt.
Mein struggles back to her feet even while the world around her is still shaking. She only vaguely registered the high pitched scream coming from the top of the tree. Or Firo screeching and kicking up a fuss while Kyubey barely manages to hold her back with his one good arm.
If this is the effect of being caught in the edge of the blast radius, how much stronger the center of detonation is?
Mein quickly gets her answer when the dust finally clears. Much of the grassy hill is turned into an impact crater. And at the center where a few trails of black smoke rises, Naofumi lays motionless in the middle. The princess brings up the party status menu, and her teeth ache much more than previously combined.
More than half of Naofumi's HP is gone with this attack.
"Stand down - final warning." Ren points the tip of his sword at the motionless Shield Hero. His voice was devoid of joy, even after he has apparently bested the opponent he claims to hate. "I already showed you I have the strength and skill to challenge this dragon, so there's no need for you to fight anymore. I don't want to test if we can resurrect after we die in this afterlife, or if we die for good."
Despite the rest of the words unsaid, the Sword Hero makes his intention clear: I will end you, if you continue to fight.
Ren's words chills Mein to the bone once again. He is speaking about murdering a fellow hero like he is stating the weather. The princess in disguise can almost see the logic behind his assumption of resurrection after a death. After all, from their perspective they already died once in their world and are resurrected in Medea, why can't they be resurrected again if they die here?
But he doesn't know the hero summoning spell is completely different from a true resurrection spell. As in, the first spell has existed for thousands of years, but the second one hasn't been invented by anyone despite millennia of research by the most talented mages and arcane researchers. It is considered to be a true divine ability mortals simply can't grasp.
Yes, listen to the Sword Hero and stay down, Naofumi! Don't keep provoking this unhinged boy! You really can't take another hit like this!
Naofumi's fingers twitch, he slowly sits back up and climbs to his knees. The Shield Hero falls face first into the dirt with his first try to stand on his feet, no doubt more than a little dizzy.
Ren doesn't try to attack while Naofumi is still stumbling on his feet, the boy hero simply stares at the older hero with emotionless, unblinking eyes. Those are the cold eyes of a murderer.
"Stop the fighting, STOP AT ONCE!" Mein takes a step forward and screams at the two heroes. "We need all four of you fighting the Wave of Catastrophe, not killing each other!"
"The Shield Hero's companion is right, Master Sword Hero. Please, stop this senseless duel at once!" The knight in Sword Hero's party echoes Mein's sentiment. "Shield Hero or not, the Church will be forced to brand you a criminal and heathen, if you murder a fellow hero for no good reason."
Ren looks away from the struggling Shield Hero to look at the incognito princess. "I already bested him. I'm willing to step aside if Iwatani stands down."
The Shield Hero finally manages to stand back on his feet again. He takes a slow step with his right foot, obviously trying to see if he can hold steady. He shakes his head and gives Mein a pained smile. He puts both fists up even as his body is still wobbling. "I can do this all day."
The princess turned adventurer is suddenly reminded of the day from almost a month ago, when she caught Naofumi pretending to be some heroic figure from his own world. Except this time, he is facing a true threat that can end his life, not wasting time playing pretend.
NO! You really CAN'T do this all day, Master Naofumi!
Her body darts forwards before she figures out what to do. The chilling truth of the Sword Hero can easily kill her with a similar technique only barely registered in her head even as she runs towards the boy. This seems to be the signal to tell both parties a duel is now officially turned into a full out party brawl. Firo and Farkas easily take her headstart, while the four companions of Sword Hero step in to intercept them.
It seems like loyalty of the Sword Hero's companions rings true, regardless of the frosty relationship the boy hero with them, or how he's about to murder one of the fellow heroes.
The female mage quickly opens her grimoire, the page flaps up like a bird with a hundred wings. It stops within the blink of an eye, at the page she placed down her magical marker when she prepared her spell before the battle. "[Mighty Meek]!"
The figures of the Sword Hero's companions seem to distort. They seem to shrink down to a fifth of their original size, before spurting right back up to their original height with a faint yellow glow on them.
Interesting pick for a buff spell to hold in her limited reserve. [Mighty Meek] is widely considered one of the most useless buff spells because of its effect: It gives full stats boost to the user, depending on the level difference between the recipient and their opponent.
An effect sounds good on paper, except the buff granted is nowhere near enough to actually cover the difference in level... Unless said high level fighter/monster has absolutely abysmal stats to begin with. All it does is have the low level fight survive slightly longer against someone that'll normally roll them over like a rampaging filorial carriage. [Giant Slayer] is considered all around superior to [Mighty Meek], when it gives proportional damage bonus that depends only on the level of the enemy.
This wizard girl either has no idea what she's doing... or she's used to having her party fight against, and survive against enemies much higher levels than them. Presumably without the assistant of their borderline manic hero.
"Connor! Go low!" The knight seems to take over the role of commander. He steps forward, bracing his large kite shield against Farkas' charge. A light blue aura in the shape of a castle tower briefly flashes on his shield. "[Sanctuary]!"
"Got it! [Leg Sweep]." The man in the lighter chain shirt drops down into a crouch and swings his spear out, hitting the knee of both Firo and Farkas.
The dumb bird flies right over Connor's head with a series of panicking squawks until she fell face first on the dirt. But Farkas knocks the much smaller man aside, and proceeds to slam into the knight's shield. The knight lets out a pained grunt even behind his shield, but manages to hold steady against Farkas' charge, and protects the mages behind him.
"[Wind Dart]." The male sorcerer's eyes glow azure, as arcane symbols seem to appear around him. He points his hands forward at the wolf man and releases half a dozen green, arrow shaped projectiles from his body. They arc around the knight's body, and hit Farkas in the back. It's not enough to truly hurt the prestige leveled veteran, but the knight easily pushes him back with his charge interrupted.
If the lack of a magical catalyst like a wand or a grimoire isn't enough evidence, the glowing azure eyes and green symbols are enough to seal the deal. This man isn't using Brimir School wizardry, but Sorcery originated from Siltvelt. Azure dragon family, to be exact.
The only way to use it would be if the man has azure dragon family blood, which is obviously not the case considering he's obviously not a demi-human. Or the less likely case, one or maybe two of his parents were made a blood pet by one of the azure dragon beastmen, and he lucked out in the one in a hundred chance it passed down to him.
The exchange happened in between a few breaths, as Mein ducks her head and ready to charge right past the Sword Hero's party. "Keep them busy, Kyubey."
"Got it." The rabbit man brandishes his rapier and furiously waves it in Connor's face, forcing the spearman to lock arms with him to stop the ongoing assault.
The sorcerer's eyes light up again, obviously ready to fire another volley of spells at Mein when a familiar glass jar shatters between their formation. The resulting stink breaks his concentration as it gives him a furious coughing fit.
The princess decides to treat Raphtalia to something good after they return to Trumpet. She is about to run past the Sword Hero's party, when the wizard girl comes at her with a dagger.
Mein has no doubt she can overpower the other girl. But she doesn't have a lot of time to waste on her when the Sword Hero is beating down on her Naofumi with a claymore not even fifty paces away. She really shouldn't cast this spell without a chant, considering how a fumbled cast could easily roast her alive. But she is quickly running out of time. "[Flame Cloak]."
The heat of the flame gnarls at her skin, hurting almost worse than the fangs of the Wavehound. Luckily for her, it also hurts the Sword Hero's companion as she's forced to step back with a yelp of pain. Mein quickly dispels the fire around her with a wave of her hand. With the last obstacle between her and the two heroes out of the way, she charges forward like a straight arrow with a sword in her hand.
Forty paces away, the Sword Hero forces Naofumi onto his knees with a heavy overhead swing.
Thirty paces away, the Sword Hero manages to push Naofumi onto his back and pins him down on the ground.
Twenty paces away, Mein hears a loud yell of alarm from Raphtalia behind her. She feels more than she heard magic projectiles splitting the air flying at her.
She doesn't turn around or try to dodge, but squares her shoulder ready to be hit on the back. It feels like someone hit her back with a cone shaped war hammer when she is about fifteen paces away from the two struggling heroes. She tumbles on her feet, losing her steps, but whe still rolls forward.
The princess only vaguely aware she hit someone in her uncontrolled rolling. She flips right back up, noticing how the Sword Hero is now about five steps away from her Naofumi. His party members don't seem to harass her anymore, when both Firo and Raphtalia joined the utter chaos fifty paces away.
Mein quickly stands up on her feet. She holds her sword up in front of her face, and then flips her arm outwards to give the Sword Hero a duelist's salute. "En Garde."
The boy gives her an annoyed grunt in return, before he closes the distance between them in a blink. "[Sweep Drawn]."
The Sword Hero may be young, but his strength is easily the top of his level range, has a full arsenal of weapon arts and personal abilities, and the skill to utilize them well. It is clear he is a good fighter despite his age. But judging from the way he fought Naofumi before, there is one thing he is not.
He's not a duellist.
Usually, when people speak about a duel, they mean an official one on one battle between two combatants. But when the term 'duellist' is used in academic terms, it refers to a specific class of fighters who favor fast, light swords. They rely on being fast and agile with their hands, forgo abilities to hone the skill to handle their weapon to disarm, and disable their opponent rather than beat them down through brutal strength and weapon arts.
Judging from how the Sword Hero prefers to use flashy and powerful sweep moves with his sword, he is clearly not as used to fighting like, or against, a duelist. And Mein happens to be trained in the best fencing style by her coach Vice-Captain Zellus.
There is certain irony when she is using the fighting style passed down from the disciple of the eighth Sword Hero against the current Sword Hero.
The princess charges right towards the Sword Hero's attack, which likely will cleave her in half if it is connected. But with a quick twirl of her hand, she hits her sword on the tip of his claymore to knock it away just enough to miss her body. The sword only manages to rip away a piece of her now half-scorched cloak. She manages to squeeze herself right into the Sword Hero's face in his brief moment of his shocked stagger, and she swings the hilt of her sword to hit the boy in the corner of his eyes.
Mein is glad of the Sword Hero's lack of helmet for his traveling and fighting attire. He either hasn't visited the Smith Demon, or promptly ignored the shop keeper's valuable advice.
The princess follows up her hilt strike with a hook punch from her free hand, right on Ren's jaw this time. The boy stumbles back, obviously trying to put some distance between himself and Mein. It's a bad move to make, when they are close together.
Before Coach Zellus taught her how to fence with the Aldori style, the first lesson the vice-captain of the royal guards practically beat into the princess was to go forwards instead of back when in a duel, even when your opponent is beating the stuffing out of you. When an opponent is unleashing an onslaught of full assaults, a badly executed retreat will only open one up for more hits.
For the Sword Hero's case, his backpedalling couldn't be even more badly planned and executed when his feet are bumping into each other. Especially when he backs right into the now backed up Naofumi. "[Shield Bash]!"
With a loud crack, the Sword Hero finds himself being the one on his knee this time. Mein doesn't let up with the assault, having no intention to let the young hero have a chance to use his abilities. She delivers another hilt smash on the Sword Hero's temple, and follows with a punch to his nose after.
Naofumi follows right after Mein, this time delivering a hit with the edge of his shield instead of the flat surface. "[Shield Strike]!"
The princess almost feels bad for the young man, a boy, really, if he didn't threaten to kill her Naofumi a few minutes ago.
The two of them continue to hit the Sword Hero until he's on his back. Naofumi slams the edge of his shield down, half burying the legendary sword into the ground with his shield. He pulls his helmet off his head with his free hand, tosses it on the ground and runs his left hand through his drenched and messy hair. "Are you ready to give it a rest now!?"
Mein lets out a few labored breaths. She slowly looks back up at the group battle not far away from them. They stopped their scuffle now that the Sword Hero is finally down on the dirt. Well, everyone except Firo, who is still screeching and struggling against Kyubey's hold once again. That's until Farkas obviously had enough. The big wolf man promptly sits down on her back, slamming her right into the dirt like the Sword Hero.
The Sword Hero's party fared surprisingly well, considering they are all still standing upright. In fact, none of them look much worse for wear even after they went up against someone over level seventy.
None of them, except the female wizard of course. Now that she's no longer trying to fend off a crazy bird, she fetches some kind of balm from her pouch and applies it onto her burnt right hand. The spear user Connor helps unravel some bandages and wraps it around her wounded hand.
Wolfgang trots his way over, his trance finally broken now that the battle has finished. He runs his beak through Naofumi's hair, doing his best to groom him.
The male sorcerer lets out a loud sneeze, where there's no doubt his nose is sore after inhaling the putrid fume from rotten egg-up whites. He wipes his nose and asks the question on everyone's mind. "What do we do now?"
"We go back to Trumpet. Hopefully before the dragon comes down at us from all this..." Naofumi looks back at the crater he's been grappling with Ren in. "...this madness."
"That's a first in my long Laas (life), a Hun (Hero) who doesn't try to come after a Dov (Dragon) and steal our hoard? Surprisingly how lacking in sensibility you Wunduniik (Traveler) are." A tinny, scratchy voice makes Mein plugs her ears. The undercover princess looks up at the direction of the voice. She sees a small, black dragon that's only slightly larger than her hands perched on a branch, looking down at them with its snot pointed at the night sky.
Wolfgang's head immediately perks up to glare at the tiny pygmy dragon, where his eyes squint into a thin slide.
That has to be the smuggest pigmy dragon Mein has ever seen... granted, that's the only pygmy dragon she's seen with her own two eyes. But considering her reference point is the Sword Hero... yeah, one would say this pygmy dragon ranks rather high on the egotistic scale.
Then again, pygmy dragons are usually the official messengers of a dragon flight. Maybe it answers directly to a dragon emperor and that's why it exudes an air of arrogance. Not too different from a royal messenger, after all.
The pygmy dragon turns to look at the sorcerer in the Sword Hero's party. "You! Kiir (Children)! You have the stink of those Volaan (intruder/unwant) Vith (serpent) from you. Did you get turned into an Aar (servant/slave) by those Siltvelt Vollan Vith (serpent intruder)?"
"You mean the azure dragon clan, sir?" The man swallows hard, his voice is a little shaky. "Father, my father was turned into a slave by the head of the last azure dragon clan, You-Jo Lung, back in the Great War. He passed the vassal blood to me, when he escaped from her and married my mother."
"Krosis (sorrow/apology/regret)." The pygmy dragon drops his head down, looking as genuinely regretful for the revelation as a tiny dragon can.
"Are you speaking for the dragon emperor dwelling on this mountain?" Naofumi asks the pygmy dragon. "Can you go back and tell him, her... umm... them, that we meant them no harm. We only want to know why they were harassing the town by the foot of the mountain.
"Why do I need to go back and tell myself..." The pygmy dragon stands up on the branch on its hind legs. He pats down his fat tummy with his stumpy front legs and blinks his eyes with a sudden realization. The pygmy dragon flies down from the branch. "Hang on a second, I forgot I'm still tiny."
A loud 'Pop' noise is accompanied with a big cloud of dust, making Naofumi cough up a storm. Mein is thankful her cloth mask is still intact after she almost lights herself up with her impromptu attempt at casting a [Fire Cloak] without chant. When the dust settles, no longer a tiny pygmy dragon stands in the clearing. A dragon with midnight colored scales, and a body large enough to squash LeFou's inn, stands before them.
The princess stops breathing for a brief second. This could turn very, very badly for them. Now both heroes in their parties have finished beating each other to the negative plane and back.
She's only brought out of her stupor when Wolfgang starts to furiously squawk at the big dragon as his feathers ruffles up. Fifty or so paces away, Firo joins him into a tweeter bird duet.
Naofumi doesn't fare much better than her, he fumbles back a few paces. Letting the Sword Hero slowly climb back up on his ass. Speaking of the boy, his only response is a few labored breaths. Talking about fighting a dragon, and actually coming face to face with a dragon that's the size of a small keep, is apparently a very different thing.
"That's better." The dragon's voice is now deep and booming, instead of tinny and scratchy. "You may call me Gaelion, Lein Wunduniik (World Traveler)."
"Lein Wunduniik (World Traveler)? Not Dovahkiin (Dragonborn)?" Naofumi blinks his eyes a couple of times, he doesn't seem to realize his jaw metaphorically hit the floor. "You have to excuse me... I'm not familiar with this term. I'm more team Dark Souls than team Skyrim. Wait, if you are a Skyrim dragon, shouldn't your name be three dragon words?"
"Yes, Lein Wunduniik (World Traveler). World Traveler, not DragonBorn. To this day, none of the heroes summoned to Medea was born with the soul of a Dov (Dragon)."The dragon seems to chuckle at Naofumi's almost gibberish like response. The princess can't help but feel like there's some kind of in-joke between the hero and the dragon she's missing. "You spoke the old name for the motherland, before the first Shield Hero changed it to Skyguard. And yes, my true name is indeed made of three letters of our language. But giving it away to others can be troublesome. The true name of a child of Gaia carries a lot of power and meaning."
The dragon looks around the people standing in front of them. He scoffs at both the adult and adolescent filorials' unthreatening challenges. "Shame you choose to pick up the Kiir (children) of Alaya. Then again... she has always been the Vahlok (guardian) of you Joor (mortal)."
"Right... it's not like I can go around and buy the egg, or an adult dragon with my available funds." Naofumi shakes his head with an annoyed frown, no doubt reminded at all of the tomfooleries Father committed against him. "But let's go back to my original question. Why did you harass the town of Trumpet at the foot of your mountain?"
"Harass? I left those Joor (mortal)alone when I could have easily burnt them down!" The dragon's eyes start to glow in a sickly amber before it dies down. "Alas, Wyndia would be very disappointed in me, if I give into my Dov (dragon) instinct."
"Wyndia, she's my Kiir (children)... well, adopted, of course. But I'd be proud to truly bestow my gift to her, when she grows to level 40 and ready for her class-up." The dragon bows his head low, his maw split into a smile despite the fangs being sharper than castle forged steel swords. He looks at Raphtalia, who is now hiding behind Kyubey while giving Gaelion occasional peeks.
The dragon holds up one of its fingers, like he's trying to show how tall his adopted daughter is. "She's about the age of your Kiir (children), but as headstrong as she is adorable. She left to visit her friend Yukari north in the village of Balafon almost three weeks ago, and never came back. I got worried and started looking for her. I fear the worst, she might have been taken by manhunters, and sold into slavery."
"You let your daughter go by herself, when you know full well the Wave of Catastrophe is going on and the bandits and slavers are having a field day? Why didn't you shrink down and be her bodyguard?" Naofumi's eyes narrows down at Gaelion's story.
Mein can't help but feel like flaunting your intelligence at a dragon that's fifty to a hundred times larger than you may not be the best response.
The dragon's maw gapes open at Naofumi's question. He looks away from the Shield Hero's intense gaze. "Fine... I may have forbidden her to go... and she may have snuck away when I was napping. I love my daughter even if she's not birthed by me, so I fear she may be the death of me one way or another."
Naofumi slaps his palm across his face. "Parenting tip for you... forbidding a child from doing something only encourages them to do said thing more."
"Yes, a lesson I sadly learned too late." The dragon dips his head in regret.
"You have a daughter." Ren's voice reminds Mein that he is still alive. It may be her imagination, but the boy's words sound more hollow than before.
"Yes, is it hard to imagine a Dov (dragon) takes a Joor (mortal) as their Kiir (children)? Yes, she will pass away long before me even if I share her part of my life energy and makes her a demi-dragon upon class-up." The dragon blinks his eyes. He glares at the Sword Hero with his amber orb. "But in this long, everlasting life, it is better to experience the joy and pain of connecting with others, than to simply live in hollowed, purposeless isolation."
The Sword Hero looks down at the legendary sword in his hand, almost like some exotic flower has grown out of its guard. After a few seconds that feels like hours, he uncurls his finger around the hilt, and lets the sword drop down, burying itself into the earth.
Both Mein and the ancient dragon are speechless at this sudden display. The legendary weapon for the summoned hero does not leave their body, due to their life force becoming interconnected with the living weapon. The only exception to this rule, is when the hero in question is sufficiently distraught.
"I, I would have crossed over." The boy stumbles back and turns his head, yet his unfocused eyes aren't looking at anything.
End Note:
SAVE WYNDIA~!
Okay, jokes at Justice Losers Begin, and Hack Snyder's expanse aside, I planned the Captain America 3 Serpent Society eastern egg as far back as I wrote that scene from chapter 6 where Naofumi played pretend Captain America. And now in this chapter, he actually becomes the super hero himself. Hope it was worth the wait... at least for those of you who haven't forgot about that scene.
:P
On a more serious note, hope the duel... and eventually full blow party battle between the Shield and Sword Hero lived up to the hype. And yes, both Naofumi and Ren's point of view from the last chapter was justified. Naofumi's strength was him believing in his companions, while Ren was still the stronger/more skilled fighter.
Guest review time.
To Gorbad Ironclaw:
I actually received some additional information through a pm from someone who has read the LN, and this is their message:
'
Hey iu saw your latest chapter of Ambition and its nice to see someone else who doesnt see the dragons coprse beign Rens fault, but here is something we find out in the LNs
Ren offered to help with it BUT both his party AND the villagers, the ones who MADE the quest to slay the dragon in the first place, said it was fine to leave it like that and that they would be able to handle the corpse
Heck the fact REN killed the dragon would be irrelevant, because its likely the Villagers would have done the same thing anyway and got the same results if another adventurer killed the dragon instead of Ren
Motoyasu not having his party members read the warning caused the plant monster
Itsuki pulled off an ill thought out rebellion
these two situations you can EASILY say are their fault, while the Dragon Cropse spreading disease due to not being properly disposed of you can lay the blame on the Villagers, again Ren asked if it was really okay to just leave the corpse there, and he trusted the the Villagers when they said "yes, we know what we are doing"
Also while i do agree him choosing to fight the Dragon near a settlement wasnt all that thought out, The Villagers were the oness who made the request to, and i cant stress this enough, kill the dragon that lives near them that hasn't done anything, clearly not thinking that if the Dragon everfound out, it would lay waste to the vilage if the ones sent to kill him failed, they just got lucky with the fact the guy who responded to their quest was strong enough to do it
'
I have to admit... I have no clue what is the author trying to do here. Are they trying to show while the whole mess is caused by Ren, yes, but he was fed bad information from what should be reasonably expected credible source, therefore shouldn't bear at least most of the blame. And Naofumi calling Ren an idiot was Naofumi being an aggro thinking dipshit due to his prior mistreatment? Or is the author playing this straight in saying Ren was being an idiot in trusting information from other people, and he should be a paranoid fuckboy who doesn't believe anyone like Naofumi (in which case it doesn't even work, since Naofumi obviously also learnt a bunch of information from Melromarc natives)?
But yeah, in conclusion regardless of the original authorial intention, my opinion is while Ren killing Gaelion and left their corpse to rot was obviously a bad thing, he shouldn't be hold accountable for most of the consequence.
To Guest:
Obviously, when Ren said Naofumi being a cheater who exploited the system he's thinking only about Brave Star Online's game mechanic, and not how a world with video game mechanic would actually run. So you are 100% right, he's projecting here.
The novel made it clear that the three weapon heroes' information from their game isn't entirely accurate, like how (future season spoiler) they each had one specific method of strengthening the legendary weapons when all three of them applies.
My knowledge of Avatar cartoon consist of Jack and Shit, and Jack left the town. So I won't be surprised there are other franchises with cleaner system than FoZ. Although I specifically choose FoZ since it also has the concept of advance element like RotSH canon. And of course, have Brimir from FoZ being the original wizard who invented wizardry magic help flesh out the lore.
:P