Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter.
More author's note at the end for anyone interested to hear me blabber some more.
"[Jormungandr]!" The dark sorcerer raises his hands above his head, where a pale flame the size of an adult man hovers above his hands, releasing a continuous wave of screeching ominous, howling spirits down at the void dragon. "Dread Lords of Lord Loptus! ATTACK! Show your superiority to these so-called 'crusaders' who worship fake deities!"
It's no wonder Julius called his dark magic mentor a doddering old fool, considering the way he's acted in the short time he made his appearance on Midir's back. Being a dark sorcerer, the man would already be under intense scrutiny with its strong affinity for death, and generally other undesirable traits in life. But it's a whole new level of idiocy for him to openly praise a cult that started out siding with the beastman invaders, while verbally diminish the martial families that have historically sided with the human nations. Getting his employer, the head of the crusader families, angry at him would be the least of his worries, as he would be very scared about what the church would do to him and his lackeys.
"The heretic dares to openly praise and worship one of the Elder Gods?! The enemy of our Chief God! And treat a young lordling as if he's some equal to our One, True Lord?!" Confessor Cromwell blows his mustache up with his exclamation, much like a certain thuggish knight from the Bow Hero's party. "Such heresy is beyond redemption! We'll make an example of these cultists and House Velthomar! Take them all to the chamber of confession! I'll personally see them stripped bare of their tongue and teeth, so they won't be able to spout any more blasphemy… with your permission, of course, Your Eminence."
The man's last address to Pope Balmus sounds almost like an afterthought. Is there something in the Wave of Catastrophe that makes all fanatics suffer from major INT and WIS debuff?
"Stay your hand for now, Confessor Cromwell. Elder God worshiping cultists they may be, but we are fighting against a common enemy." Thankfully, Pope Balmus is behaving with a little bit more rationality than his confessor henchman. "Let's resolve our dispute of faith after we avert the mindless demon horde aiming to end our world. Perhaps even these heretics can find a way to serve our lord."
"I must object, Your Eminence! Showing leniency to animal-loving heretics weaken the resolve of our own faith, and our connection to our true gods' Divine Spheres!" The head confessor looks like he's been forced to eat something unclean, but he relent Pope Balmus' request. He gives a quick look to the demi-human slave legion fighting in front of them. Many of those closest to the Pope have temporarily paused their frenzy against the Wavespawn, staring at the head confessor like a predator looking at a piece of meat. "But I default to your judgment, of course."
"See to it, Head Confessor." The Pope looks down at the fickle confessor, the lens of his spectacles reflecting light to obstrue his eyes. His voice was bereaved of warmth. "Remember, the Wave isn't the only crisis our nation is currently facing. We are not to do something that'll weaken us as a whole, even if we have to test our own resolve to our faith and gods."
Chapter 81: Soul Storm
"[Fenrir]!" The dark cultist leader pushes his hands forward. Eight bundles of dark, purple fire blossoms around the void dragon. They suddenly restrict themselves together, meeting and exploding at the center causing the leviathan to roar with pain. But the thing is clearly much more resilient on the outside than its inner organs, since it is still not dead yet unlike how relatively easy Jeanne burst out of one's stomach. "Mus Eins, Tigris Drei! Beat down this thing that dares to make a mockery of Lord Loptus' visage!"
Two silhouettes behind Manfroy steps forward. Even from a distance, the princess can tell they are giants among men similar to the battle saint of Four Heroes' Church, or Regent-General Adan from House Friege. The one on the left is shaped like a miniature castle, with how his entire form is encased with nothing but heavy armor. The one on the right is mostly covered with form fitting leather showing off his impressive physique, with his head completely covered by a Zeltoble style gladiator full helmet.
Despite the short time they catch Mein's attention, there is something about them that deeply disturbs the princess turned adventurer. The way they carry themselves simply isn't natural.
It isn't something most people would think about, but even skilled veteran fighters can't completely eliminate unneeded body movements all the time. Suits of armor are designed to protect its wearers, not making them feel comfortable after all, which often means the simple act of standing around in full armor would cause people irritation. Even someone like Coach Zellus, who sees the way of fighting as an art form would still pointlessly move their body due to said irritation, unless he is hyper focused against an opponent he considers worthy of his time.
Yet these two presumed Loptus cultists have no unnecessary movement at all. She would almost believe them to be undead creatures who can't feel their own bodies at all, if not for their graceful movement that looks more like flesh and blood people instead of a jerky moving zombie or skeleton empowered by pale magic.
Both men leap down from the back of Midir and swing their weapons down at the void dragon. The hulking suit of armor brandishing a giant two-handed sword, while the gladiator wields a warhammer with its metal head as large as his own buffed up torso. Their weapons slam on top of the void dragon's head, the force of impact alone is enough to indent the skull of the corrupted dragon, and make all its eyes burst. It's clear that the creature's death is only a matter of time.
"Bovis Zwei, Draco Funf! Take out that eyesore in the distance, so Lord Loptus can take into the sky again!" The dark sorcerer points his arm to the last remaining floating island in the distance. Shortly after, two waves thicker than Melromarc castle's support pillars soar through the sky and pierces right through the last reefback leviathan. It exploded into a violent ball of fire right after.
"Heck, more people can fire off Kamehameha?" The Shield Hero is startled on his feet, clearly not expecting the show of force the Loptus cultists just demonstrated. In a way, Mein can completely understand the Shield Hero's shock. She's feeling more unnerved as the sands tick by, despite the dark dragon cultists being her supposed allies. In a way, she can almost understand Cromwell's violent reaction towards them now.
"It's a high tier bow weapon art: [Vacuum Shockwave], the advanced form of [Arrow Shockwave] used by Bow Hero." Lord Lester narrows his eyes, the young lord's face grimacing. "It requires an inhuman amount of stamina and focus, and I only knew a handful of high level master bowmen who could perform this attack."
Mein can't stop to wonder if the young lord is feeling threatened by this newly emerged dark cult, if he's fearing losing his clan's position, or the genuine threat they might possess.
"Isn't that a good thing?" Ren looks up at the much taller bow knight from the corner of his eyes. "They are on our side."
"Sorry, they reminded me of my deceased aunt Lady Brigitte. She was the only Melromarc archer who can pull off this technique back during The Great War." The blue haired knight shakes his head. The young lord narrows his eyes again. "Historically, our crusader families and the Loptus cults are enemies, dating back all the way to the very first Wave of Catastrophe. I understand Lord Velthomar's mother descended from a saint of Loptus cult, but I'm still vary of him granting asylum to these cultists, who are nothing like his ancestors. You saw those Dread Lords. There's clearly something wrong with them."
"Well, I think it's fortunate we have some strong help for now. Most of our stronger fighters are already spent, and the troops suffered heavy casualties." The Shield Hero helps an exhausted Bow Hero onto one of the filorials, he then turns over at the red dimensional fission that's splitting the sky all the way down to the earth. "We still have to kill the Wave boss and close the gap. Let's focus on that."
"Yes… I suppose that's true under the circumstances." The bow knight nods his head. "I will keep my personal opinions in check, and not have them affect my duties."
"You pushed yourself too hard again, brother." Over on the other side, Lord Julius crouches down and places a hand on his half brother's face as Yuki brings the unconscious knight over to safety. "Worry not, brother. I'll take care of the rest."
The young heir to House Velthomar stands back up to his full height, and looks forward at his dragon and cultists with a sense of purpose. "Manfroy! Make yourself, and your dread lords useful and clear a path for us! We'll go to the gap between worlds and drag the Wave boss out if it doesn't show itself! This world isn't theirs to destroy!"
The princess doesn't like the way Lord Julius talks. It sounds almost as if the young man sees Medea as his own personal property to rule, or to destroy at his own leisure. Considering his patron being the fabled World Eater… that might not be far from the truth.
"Yes, YES! My Lord! You have finally awakened and begun taking your birthright seriously!" By contrast, the dark sorcerer is very pleased. It's not an exaggeration to say that he's in rapture. "I, your dark bishop, live to serve you! Dread Lords! Cut a path through these mindless puppets and destroy the Wave Boss for Lord Loptus!"
The rest of the figures atop of Midir also leap down on the group below, firing off various weapon arts and magic as they descend to the ground below. The Wavespawn, which seemed like an endless tidal of destruction, cleared around their landing even before their collective feet touched the ground.
Twelve figures stand together in front of Midir. All covered in armor, or hoods to have most of their features obstructed. All of them eerily devoid of needless, yet natural body movements unless they are moving forward to maim and kill a target. A task all twelve of them are efficiently good at, even if their fighting styles vary.
Some of them, the aforementioned Mus Eins and Tigris Dreis especially, tear groups of monsters apart with brutal strength. Two of them fire arrows nonstop from their respective bows, presumably Bovis Zwei and Draco Funf previously mentioned by Manfroy, blowing Wavespawn apart easier than if they are defenseless fishes stuck in a barrel. Others tear groups of monsters apart with their magic, there is even one that seems to have blended into shadows in the land, only to occasionally resurface and torn monsters apart.
The power displayed by the Loptr dread lords reminded the first princess of Melromarc why the Heroes are considered an important defense against the Wave of Catastrophe. Even if there are endless difficulties surrounding these otherworldly interlopers. Some are caused by powerful Players, and various schemes trying to manipulate or benefit from the heroes. Others are caused by the heroes themselves either due to misunderstanding, or some of them willingly or unknowingly failing their sacred duties.
On the battlefield, especially against hordes of mindless monsters, the significance of strong, high leveled combatants can't be ignored. The growth rate, and supposed ability (judging by all the filorials ascending to their monarch variance, most likely true) for the heroes to fully unlock one's potential for themselves and their followers exemplify such advantage.
Thanks to the unexpected help from the Loptr cultists, the battle has indisputably swung back to their favor once again, almost like how it started. On the one hand, the princess is almost disappointed at how the Wavespawn didn't put up a stronger challenge. On the other hand, this is only the Third Wave after all, and Mein doesn't want to imagine how much worse the subsequent ones will be if this is already an insurmountable challenge.
And it's not like this fight was an afternoon stroll in the palace garden, from both the casualties suffered by the army already, and Mein's personal ordeal of falling through the sky with the Shield Hero.
The rest of the collective Melromarc host follows behind the Loptr Dread Lord. With the power displayed by these powerful fighters and the death of the leviathan class boss monsters, especially the ones that spawn the exploding fishes, the push towards the Wave is much easier. The Wave horde is still an endless tide trying to swipe everyone away, but they are much less intimidating when twelve boulders are effectively at the front of their counter push, and their own leviathan class monster Midir.
Their advantage becomes even more so, when Gaelion finished with the void dragon he himself was dealing with and rejoined the battle. Now with two dragons on the side of Melromarc host, one focused on the monsters on the ground, the other burning down the flying horde in the air, their push towards the dimensional fissure in the sky is only a matter of time.
More of those teleporting monsters also make their appearance, trying to catch the heroes, especially the now practically dead on his feet Bow Hero. Thankfully, their element of surprise is now gone after their first attempt, as the heroes and their party members are ready. And any more of the purple warping monsters who make their appearance is immediately eliminated.
"So these Dread Lords are another group of strong fighters in this world." The Sword Hero's face is practically stretched as long as an adult filorial's neck as he follows behind the Loptus cultists. It's clear that the competitive boy wasn't happy that another group of fighters made their appearance right in the middle of a Wave fight, and made his own strength look insignificant.
"Not the best time for this Ren." Naofumi looks back at the Bow Hero, who has to be held by Sir Crepe sitting behind him to stay on their filorial ride. "Itsuki nearly tired himself to death. Let's just be grateful for the help we got."
"I know." Despite the Sword Hero's words, he clearly thinks the veteran fighters that are stronger and more skilled than himself very much. He narrows his eyes, as he cuts another newly appeared warper down to excessively smaller pieces. "I know I'm very new to this fighting thing, properly, at least. But one day, I'll be as strong as the best of them."
"...You'll get there." To Mein's surprise, the one who immediately encouraged the Sword Hero from his party was the dog girl who had been hovering around Naofumi. The princess had half expected the brat to request a party transfer before the 3rd Wave started, considering her very much not hidden agenda to marry the Shield Hero.
The air suddenly feels like it's charged by powerful magic as a strange humming noise begins to echo between the cliff sides. The princess and many others who aren't directly locked in combat turn their attention towards the red Wave in front of them. Much like the case before the six leviathan class boss monsters bore their way into Medea, there is another large silhouette slowly enlarging in the teared up horizon. Something tells Mein that this isn't just another regular boss monster, but the true boss of Third Wave.
The princess swallows. Her fingers tighten around the hilt of her newly commissioned sword wand despite knowing the danger of pushing her magic even further. She gives a quick look back at the Bow Hero lying against the back of a filorial, and finds the boy is also glaring at the Wave while holding his legendary weapon tightly. Clearly, she won't be the only one who is ready to jump into the action if the fight goes badly against the Wave boss.
With a wail that sounds like a thousand evil spirits, the thing finally emerges out of the Wave into their world. And the boss monster of Third Wave is… a fish. A giant fish.
To be fair, it does fit the theme of this Wave. Which seems to be filled with eldritch creatures emerging from the depth of the unexplored ocean. And technically, the guardian spirit Houou is only a flaming bird. The size of the boss monster isn't the only thing going for it either. As its entire body is shining with white, ethereal light like a ghost, which is probably a good indication that it has a strong connection with the pale world of the dead, has strong resistance against corporeal weapons, or both.
But what makes this thing look almost disappointing, practically anti-climactic is its otherwise somewhat mundane shape. While the rest of the creatures from Third Wave all resemble some kind of aquatic creatures, their body still looks nothing like anything that's been scooped out of the oceans of Medea. As if they have the impression of something that might live in water, but still shaped wrong.
The boss monster of the Third Wave on the other hand, simply looks like an oversized fish that caught in a fisherman's nest. In fact, if the princess squints her eyes a little, it looks like the spirit of a slaughterfish with its elongated mouth chopped off. Then again, it might have some nasty abilities. Those purple menances certainly proved that Third Wave has its share of unwelcoming surprises.
"Don't underestimate the boss monster. Its name is 'Soul Eater'. It probably has some strong, hidden nasty abilities-" The Shield Hero is clearly thinking the same thought alongside Mein. He didn't get to finish his line of thought as the Dread Lord immediately fired off their powerful spells and weapon arts without even a moment of hesitation. "Or we could just watch those Dread Lords go to work. That works fine too, I guess…"
The boss monster lets out more wails, this time sounds like something from the dead spirit that is under constant pain and torment. It's almost enough to make the princess feel sorry for the monster that's trying to destroy her world. Almost.
"Somehow, I expected more." Judging from the disappointment from the Spear Hero's tone, he feels very similar to the princess turned adventurer. "Well, at least none of us got badly hurt."
"Don't relax yet!" The Shield Hero on the other hand is still on full alert, despite the Wave boss is now writhing and flopping on the ground like a literal fish out of water. Maybe it's due to experience, education from his time in the hero academy, or paranoia induced by their previous near death experience of falling through air while being chased by leviathan class boss monsters. "Remember what happened to Mami. Don't let your guard down 'till this Wave stops."
His advice would have been more helpful, if he ever explained to anyone who this 'Mami' person, or perhaps place (a city previously destroyed by a Wave due to letting their guard down too early? Possible, judging by what happened to Eclair's home.) is. At least the other heroes seem to get what he's saying, as they resume their battle stance despite still being hundreds of paces away from the struggling Wave boss.
As the Loptr fighters continue to attack the Soul Eater, it opens its maw. At first, the princess wonders if the boss monster is letting out a silent scream of agony and indignation at how it's being treated by the champions of Medea. But then, she notices something seems to be escaping through its mouth, looking like a gray trail of smoke. She looks up, and sees the smoke seems to be gathering itself into a bizarre looking cloud over everyone's head. She points her finger at it. "Look up! What's that?"
And then it happens, an echoing wail that mimics the soul shaking sound the Soul Eater made before it swam through the red tear in the sky into their world. The princess loses her feet when she feels like her very soul was being dragged out of her own body. It's hard to tell how much time it took for her to clear her vision again, and judging from everyone else sprawled around her, they all felt the same thing. Thankfully, whatever the Soul Eater did seems to have caused more harm to its fellow Wavespawn than the defenders of Medea, as she found the monsters either dropping from the sky like bugs, or already motionless on the ground.
"No way, you were right on the money, Naofumi! Did you read this in your book?" The Spear Hero's shaken exclamation makes her look over at the usually clueless but happy hero. The man has his face looking up, with an expression that seems to be a cross between dull surprise, and enlightenment. The princess briefly wonders if that's the same face she made after witnessing the Bow Hero's first mental outburst before looking up in the sky herself. "It really did pull a Charlotte maneuver!"
A giant monster much more intimidating than the Soul Eater is now coiled up in the sky. It has a segmented body that looks like a giant worm bigger than even the tentacled Wave dragon from before, shining with an eldritch pale, blue light that slowly expands in size from its tail to its head. The head has a pair of curved, flat horns expanding to both sides like a pair of giant, spanning wings on top of the monster's skull. It has three pairs of golden, pupil-less eyes on its featureless face, right above a giant hole for a mouth where there's nothing but darkness of the abyss inside. The new form the Wave boss took seems to be dormant so far, yet the fact that it hasn't attacked yet doesn't give the princess any sense of relief, only adding to the dread of what it might be able to do once it awakens.
"No, I didn't read anything about specific Wave bosses, or heard it from my brother's game, for that matter." The Shield Hero looks equally stunned at the ghostly leviathan. He doesn't seem to be able to string a cohesive thought, at least in terms of battle plan even as an entire wave of arrows fly towards the soul eater's new form from the Yngvi host. "Stay alert! We don't know what new trick this one has!"
More arrows join the fray from atop the cliff. Both Baron Elric's force and the House Yngvi's filorial division decided to lend the main force their support, now that the sky is clear once again. Ironically thanks to the Wave boss' transformation. Yet, despite arrows more numerous than rain drops during a storm, all of them seem to harmlessly pass through the still inactive soul eater. It seems unlike its first form, the boss monster didn't only look like a spirit. It has actually become incorporeal.
"Try to hit it with magic, Master Naofumi." The princess turned adventurer lights up a fireball in her hand. Only a small one that'll barely put any strain on her heart, as she's trying to access the monster's ability more than actually causing it damage. There are much more powerful allied spellwrights than herself, no need to push herself to breaking point. She tosses her fireball towards the boss monster, the Shield Hero follows her example with a lightning spear in one hand, an orb of concussive force from the other. The other mages in the gathered force seem to realize what she's doing, as more fireballs, lightning bolts, wind blades, shadow darts and acid jets follow right after.
The ghostly leviathan's head raises slowly from its coiled body. Its face twitches, almost like a man taking in a deep breath as it sucks in all the magic thrown at it into its mouth.
"Oh, come on!" The Spear Hero practically jumps on his feet in frustration. "How can we beat a Wave boss if it's on god mode and can't be damaged?!"
"It can't be completely invulnerable to damage." By comparison, the Sword Hero seems to be much calmer despite his young age. "It's sucking spell attacks into its mouth. That must mean it can't shrug them off like a physical attack! We should be able to damage it with magic, if we block its mouth or pin it down."
"How do we do that when its body can't be touched!?"
"What are you fools doing, loitering on the ground!?" Manfroy's scream makes Mein turn her head. The princess belatedly realized that the dread lords are still twitching on the ground. It's surprising, considering it's the power they commanded against the Wavespawn allowed everyone to push their way to the Wave boss in the first place. She would have assumed that they would have been the first ones to get back up, and go at the boss monster again. "Get up! Fight for the glory of Lord Loptus!"
"What are you yammering about, old man? Who's this Lord Loptus fellow?" One of the Loptr dread lords stirs over, the one dressed in tight leather armor and a hood over and fought like an assassin earlier. He pulls the hood over his head, revealing a face much younger than Mein expected, with short, shaggy cropped red hair. His response makes the dark sorcerer gaping like a fish. "Hell, I don't even know who you are!"
"MOTHER!?" Duke Febail's voice sounds half shocked, and half desperate as the Ullr bloodline heir pushes his way over to the front, and is kneeling down by one of the fallen dread lords. One of the two bow wielders, her helmet which covered most of her face, now fell to the side revealing a head full of curly, golden hair just like the duke. "I can't believe you are alive! I don't know why you were working for the Loptr cult, but this is great! We can go back to the Yngvi duchy, and live like a family again! Patty would love to meet you!"
"Duke Yngvi, this is not the best time to have a reunion with your mother!" Duke Arvis walks up behind the Yngvi Lord. But instead of diverting his attention to the woman brought by his ally, the Velthomar lord is fixated on the monster hovering in the sky. A reasonable reaction, Mein would have agreed with him, if she isn't genuinely curious about the Loptr dread lords that truly unnerved her.
"I know, Lord Arvis… but that's my mother here! I thought she'd been dead since the Great War!"
"I'm sorry… who are you?" The woman looks up at the Duke Febail, her reply no doubt hitting the noble like a bucket of freezing water. Her eyes looked up, fixed on the Ullr emblem on Febail's armor. "I'm afraid you got the wrong person, my lord. I'm but the humble elder of a remote village, and I have most definitely, not mothered a young noble as my son."
"Mother! It's me, Febail! Don't scare me!" Dread and desperation now completely overtakes the Yngvi head's voice. His hands shake, clearly want to close on the woman's shoulders but hesitate to touch her.
"Elder Eyvel!? You are alive?! I thought you fell at the hand of those Siltvelt animals near the end of The Great War!" Marquis Leif joins their little group as he reels back in his steed, and jumps down besides the bow lord. He looks just as hesitant as Duke Yngvi, probably afraid to suffer from the same case of mistaken identity as the Yngvi head just did. "You… you haven't aged a day since I last saw you. It's good to know you are still alive."
"Lord Leif? You… you are all grown up. Is Nanna and Sir Finn well?" Thankfully for the young marquis, he apparently didn't mistake the identity of the person unlike Duke Febail. Even if the woman is hesitant, probably due to the age gap she's admitting here.
"I'm here! Elder Eyvel!" The Augustria princess leaps down from her steed and runs over to the now identified Elder Eyvel like her betrothed. "It's… it's good to see you again. You wouldn't have been hurt if I wasn't captured by the Siltvelt army…"
"All my faithful service to you… how dare you do this to me! Manfroy!" On the other side, another reunion is taking place. This one is much less heartwarming as the mountain-like man under heavy armor throws away his helmet, revealing a man in his late forties with a head of thick, but well trimmed dark hair and beard. "How dare you put the spirit of a dread lord in my body, and use me as your puppet!"
"WHAT!" The head of the four heroes, including the now half dozing off Bow Hero Itsuki all whip around to stare at the Loptr dark sorcerer. Well, that explained why all of their movement was unnaturally clean. All of them were being used as meat puppets by some malevolent spirits.
"Grandfather has always been like that…" One of the former dread lords, this one a girl with long, pale purple hair that doesn't seem to have reached twenty summers looks up, glaring daggers at the dark sorcerer. "He has no loyalty, other than to Lord Loptus. He would even use his own family to achieve the goal for his lord."
Wait, she called Manfroy grandfather, that means… for the love of the chief god, he used his own granddaughter as one of the human sacrifices?!
"Hey! Scram!" The young man with short red hair suddenly snatches Manfroy's granddaughter, and leaps to the side. Not a moment too soon, as the ghostly leviathan sweeps down right after, torn through multiple human sacrifices who have housed Loptr dread lords. The man going at Manfroy included, his heavy armor offered him no protection as he is ripped apart in a gruesome display of blood and gore. Manfroy himself would have also met his end, if Naofumi didn't grab him away with a lasso.
"You aren't getting away easy with a quick death!" The Shield Hero hisses at the old cultist as the soul eater pulls up into the sky, avoiding a hastily casted [thunderstorm] from Lady Ishtar. "You have a lot of explaining to do after this Wave!"
"Put me down, boy! How dare you touch the high priest of Lord Loptus!" Manfroy squirms in Naofumi's vice grip, but the fragile sorcerer can't do anything to escape the Shield Hero's hold.
"Shut it! Manfroy!" Julius fires multiple dark spirits into the sky, trying to chase down the ghostly leviathan, who is displaying much greater speed and agility than its size suggests. "We have more important matters to worry about! It's coming back for another run!"
As observed by the heir of House Velthomar, the soul eater has made a complete turn in the red sky, and is now charging right at the group at the front. Where the summoned heroes all preside.
"[Swords of Revealing Light]!" The Sword Hero raises his legendary weapon, trying to freeze the giant boss monster and allows everyone to escape. Yet this time, the swords of light instantly extinguished as soon as they first flashed into existence around the giant monster. "It's too powerful for [Swords of Revealing Light] to handle!"
"[Meteor Shield]! [Barrier]!" The Shield Hero quickly throws out his strongest defensive ability in an effort to stop it, and he throws out a miracle behind it for extra effort. Despite the Shield Hero's superior DEF for his level, it's clearly not enough to stop the ghostly leviathan, as the monster plows right through his two barriers. Before the monster reaches everyone, a giant shadow over takes everyone as a much larger golden barrier with the visage of a young girl in crucified position comes into existence.
"His mercy is boundless like the ocean, [Mercy Barrier]!" With a prayer, Pope Balmus once again casts his strongest defensive miracle in front of everyone. Behind him, the rest of the knight templars are chanting together like a choir, clearly readying up some kind of ritual miracle.
While that's going on, General Adan the 'slow' has finally managed to catch up with everyone at the front. The giant in a hulking suit of blue armor slams his tower shield into the ground, activating his own shield art. "[Great Shield]! HAH!"
A different branch of [Air Strike Shield] advancement, unlike [Meteor Shield] which focuses on staggering the enemy in addition to bolstered defense, [Great Shield] sacrifices all counter effects of shield weapon arts to solely boost damage mitigation.
The ghostly leviathan lets out an angry wail as it bumps head first into both barriers, unable to advance this time. It twists its body, pulling itself up into the sky, but not before a [Thunderstorm] spell casted by the Friege siblings finally manage to sing its body. This clearly shows that a magic attack CAN damage it, as long as it's not sucked into its mouth.
"We have to stop it dead in its tracks somehow." Naofumi turns to look at Ren. "If we cast our strongest defensive buff on you, will [Sword of Revealing Light] be able to hold it down, at least for a second?"
"I don't know. My DEF growth wasn't very high." Ren hisses out from the corner of his mouth.
"Grab and copy the Sword of Loptus!" Lord Julius points his finger at the dark gray great sword on the ground, left behind by the man that's possessed by Mus Eins and killed by the soul eater earlier. "It's blessed by the dragon lord of Dark Ambition. It'll boost up your body to peak physical condition, and halve all incoming damage!"
Ren turns to look at the sword in question, he immediately runs forward, makes a leap and grabs the great sword in his hand while everyone else focuses on throwing whatever magic attack they have at the ghostly leviathan to keep it busy and away from the Sword Hero.
Well… almost everyone. From her peripheral, Mein notices a knight encased in attention grabbing golden armor running past everyone, right towards the dimensional gap opened by the Third Wave in the distance. With how shiny his armor is, the princess almost missed the shotels hanging by his waist.
Could it be… no, it has to be a coincidence. Where would that insane lizardman, a former slave find a suit of golden armor that looks as gaudy as it is opulent?
The youngest summoned hero clearly has trouble wielding it, or simply drag it behind considering it's almost as large as his own body. But then again, all he has to do is to hold the sword for a while.
Ren's body suddenly grows massive, as his slim arms and legs puff up more than a baked bread dough, ripping through his clothing and even breaking some of the leather strappings of his armor. Turning the somewhat spindly looking boy into a chiseled statue as the legendary sword he held turned into the exact copy of the Loptus sword in his other hand. He falls head over heel into the ground, clearly not expecting the sudden change. "Damn it! Muscles… too huge! It's completely messing up with my balance!"
"Ren! Give the sword to me!" Naofumi releases Manfroy, and pulls Ren over with his rope shield as he makes a grab for the Sword of Loptus.
"What are you going to do with it? It's a sword!" Ren looks at Naofumi sideways, clearly not ready to hand over the weapon yet.
"Magic relics can unlock magical forms of our weapons if we absorb them, even when they aren't the same weapon type!" Naofumi's words reminded of Mein how he could have absorbed Grant to give him a magical shield, but choose to hold it for the Three Heroes' Church and returned it after escaping the Seaetto catacombs. "Hand it over quickly! It's enchantment fits my fighting style best!"
"Fine! Don't blame me if you get a shock!" Ren shoves the original Sword of Loptus into Naofumi's hand, and the Shield Hero instantly brings it up to his own shield. With a flash, the relic sword of Loptr cult disappears into the legendary shield. Naofumi's body underneath the heavy armor grows as massive as his armor suggests, destroying his clothes much like the Sword Hero's. He stumbles on his feet, but doesn't fall over like the Sword Hero from earlier.
"How dare you steal one of our greatest relics, Shield- MMMPH!" The indignant scream of Manfroy is shut back in as Lord Julius grabs the old man's face.
"Shut it, Manfroy! I allowed the heroes to use the Sword of Loptus as they saw fit." The red haired 'dark prince' turns around, and gives his mentor a mirthless smirk as he slowly releases his grasp. "Or are you going to disobey me, Manfroy?"
"No, of course not, my lord!" The dark sorcerer shudders at the thinly veiled threat from Julius. He takes a few steps back, looks at the Shield Hero and barks some more in a pathetic attempt to hide his own indignation. "I'll allow your transgression because my lord said so, Shield Hero. Remember, you too serve the great Lord Loptus!"
"It's coming for another run. You ready, Ren?" The Shield Hero completely ignores Manfroy as he looks to the side at the Sword Hero.
"I got the easy part." The younger hero shakes his shoulders around, clearly trying to get better used to his sudden increased muscle mass. Meanwhile, every mage around cast any wizardry spells, or miracles on them to further buff up their DEF rating. "You'll have to hold down the Soul Eater if I freeze it."
"You don't have to do it, Master Naofumi." The princess reaches out as Duke Arvis cast the high level fire spell [Iron Flesh] on both heroes, giving the Shield Hero's entire body a metallic shine.
"It's what I'm here to do." The young man's usually soft and even voice sounds jumbled, almost like two pieces of metal being scrapped together. He turns towards the charging ghostly leviathan and bends slightly down, to better keep his balance. They both break into a slowed down sprint, due to [Iron Flesh]'s effect to slow down its recipient's speed in exchange for the massive increase of their resilience and stability. "Ren, NOW!"
"[Swords of Revealing Light]!" The Sword Hero's voice is also jumbled, but it fits his cold personality much better than Naofumi. The swords of light shimmers into existence around the ghostly leviathan again, but this time it actually freezes the ethereal monster in place.
Naofumi runs forward, as fast as his now massively buffed body, further slowed down by [Iron Flesh] spell, allows. He opens his arm up, and fires off his own weapon art. "[Variable Shield Prison]!"
Even the prison fused out of multiple energy shields takes a much darker, metallic shine as opposed to its usual emerald color. It starts to encase the ghostly leviathan's head sans its giant horns just as the shining swords start to disappear one by one. The leviathan monster's segmented serpentine flails around, clearly trying to set itself free as a silhouette leaps over the two younger heroes at it.
At first, Mein wonders if it's the Spear Hero joining his fellow summoned compatriots. But then, she recognizes the bellowing white robe that flutters in the wind like a cloak belongs to that of the clergy. More specifically, the Pope of the Three Heroes' Church. His right arm is coated in a layer of the Chief God's holy dark wrath flame, completely disintegrating the sleeve of his attire and reveals a massive arm ripped with muscles. "His wrath is indomitable like the mountain! ARRRGGGHHH!"
As the highest ranking member of the Three Heroes' Church, Pope Balmus is a master at using all three weapons that their faith considered to be sacred. But long before that, a young Biscus supposedly was a warrior monk, and a disciple of Shirou Emiya with a much simpler aspiration in life: train his body enough to become the shield of the greatest Bow Hero.
The Pope of the Three Heroes' Church slams the Wave boss into the ground with his unarmed weapon art [Starfall Dive], somehow not phasing right through the monster. Perhaps the Chief God's holy fire wrapped around his arm is enough to have his attack considered magical by nature. Or perhaps the ghostly leviathan has to become temporarily corporeal for it attack run. It makes no difference in the end. Pope Balmus shouts back to the head confessor. "Cromwell, NOW!"
The knight templars finished their collective chant, as Confessor Cromwell slammed the blunt end of his ceremonial spear onto the ground. "His mercy is boundless like the ocean. His wrath is indomitable like the mountain. [JUDGMENT]!"
A pillar of golden light seems to tear through the Wave itself, as it descends down from heaven and scorches the Wave boss. But even as the soul eater finally lay dying, the Princess felt something was wrong.
Her first clue comes from the sky, where a sickeningly deep shade of emerald slowly expands from the dimensional fissure outward. It should have been a comforting sight, as it's the color of one of the four heroes (even if the one that's always allegedly favors the beast over men). But she feels unsettled by the change, not helped by how there seems to be millions of angry chants and curses that seem to emanate from the other side of the Wave, slowly drowned out by a humming noise.
The knight in golden armor is standing in front of the now emerald Wave, his arms opened up towards the sky, praying to whatever deity his demented mind worships. The princess squints her eyes, and sees there seems to be some kind of an idol by his feet. It's too far away for her to make out the specific form, but it looks almost as wide as it's tall, having a roughly round shape that would have looked almost comical if not for the circumstance.
"YES! PRAISE MY GODDESS!" A vaguely familiar voice that Mein has almost forgotten till now pierced her ear. No way, the golden knight really is Lautrec?! "COME FORTH, MY GODDESS! AND CLEAN THIS WORLD OF THE TAINT!"
"STOP HIM! DON'T LET THAT ANIMAL FINISH HIS RITUAL-" Father rushes forward despite his weakened state, but he didn't get to finish the command when something exploded out of the Wave.
Even as Mein falls down again, she can vaguely make out a humanoid shape coming out of the emerald Wave.
Non-Canon Omake: Sabin Train Suplex - Rising of the Shield Hero style
At first, Mein wonders if it's the Spear Hero joining his fellow summoned compatriots. But then, she recognizes the billowing white robe that flutters in the wind like a cloak belongs to that of the clergy.
More specifically, the Pope of the Three Heroes' Church. His right arm is coated in a layer of the Chief God's holy dark wrath flame, completely disintegrating the sleeve of his attire and reveals two massive arms ripped with muscles. "His wrath is indomitable like the mountain! ARRRGGGHHH!"
And soon, Pope Balmus leaps towards the foul, ghastly fish, spreading his arms wide open.
Is he insane? Mein thought. The teachings of the Church may have professed and extolled the noble virtues of open tolerance for most, and the altruism of self-sacrifice, but was he willing give up his life in martyrdom for such a stupid and selfless act!?
However, what happened next was that as soon as Pope Balmus grabbed the creature in a bear hug, the giant fish immediately started to rise straight up in the sky …
… before it fell all the way backwards, slamming on the ground. It would have crashed the endless hordes of Wavespawn, if they were all consumed by the soul eater to achieve this second form.
D-did the Pope of the Three Heroes' Church just suplex the creature?
It would be very appropriate for the jaws of the nobles to drop to the floor, shocked to see a meek and wise pontiff suddenly possess such ungodly strength.
Naofumi just stared in utter disbelief, similar to the other Legendary Heroes. Indeed, the only exceptions were Father and the other more experienced nobles who fought in the First Wave of Catastrophe and ergo witnessed the pontiff's physical prowess.
"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" Motoyasu screamed.
"WHY DO THEY EVEN NEED US HERE!?"
End Note:
Fun fact. Originally, I DID want to conclude this chapter with Pope Balmus suplex the ghost leviathan soul eater (which means yes, 'canonically' speaking, he's strong enough to do this in my story). But I thought it'd look too silly even for RotSH, which is why I simply have him punch it into the ground. Then... I learnt of Sabin Train Suplex meme. And Ace-Triad wrote my original idea into a full light hearted omake.
XDDD
I have to confess again. When Naofumi first realized he could feed artifact level weapon of different type into his shield to have his shield unlock a form with the same magical property, I didn't plan to have him do it at all in my story (at least not have him absorb Grant). Since the contrast I wanted to make is in my story, Naofumi isn't someone who exploit everything to make himself stronger, but someone who is more considerate to other people's problem. Of course, then I put a bunch of super famicon era Fire Emblem staff into my story... and I realized Loptus Sword from Thracia 776's property (+20 to body stats, a stats to my knowledge, is unique to Thracia 776, and half all income damage) would fit him very well. So I recycled that idea, and have him use it in this chapter. Funny how things just come together like this.
:P
And of course... Lautrec the lizardman makes a return to the story. And turns out his 'Goddess' is real. We'll see what happens next. Not going to lie, I wanted to get to this part of my story for a LONG time. Pretty much as far back as I wrote Lautrec into my story. So yeah, I'm excited for what'll happen next, even if it'll be a red princess (haha) and a half to actually write.
Guest review time.
To Halo:
Thank you very much for your review. Hope you are enjoying the story so far, and will continue to have a good time.
My problem with Rishia isn't that she doesn't stand up to herself in canon, as she did beat Itsuki in a duel in canon. But the problem is she mooched off her growth thanks to Naofumi's growth enhance bonus, rather than do it legit on her own through effort and sacrifice. This is why I hate this mechanic with a burning passion. It just cheapens everything else the characters do in the story.