Kurose watched as the Jewelry tools hero swung his hammer, narrowly missing the wave boss's leg. Seeing that he had missed it, he reached out for its leg, grabbing hold of it with a smile
The wave boss attempted to pull its leg back, but the Jewelry tools hero didn't let it go, keeping a steady grip on it. He continued to look up at the monster before him. Their eyes met, and the wave boss let smoke pour out of its mouth as if to indicate it was about to breathe flames again.
"Hey! Not so close to me! Don't want my cloak getting burnt!"
He raised his weapon, shouting as he did.
"Erst Strike!" The hammer glowed as he sent it swinging towards the monster's chest, and it let out a pitiful whinny as it began to wheeze.
Kurose didn't even know a horse could wheeze, but here was the evidence it could. It began to back up slowly, looking at the hero in fear, even as he began to slowly approach it.
"Hey! You can't leave now! You started this fight, right? You wanted to attack those two over there…" he gestured towards Kurose and Eorna before continuing. "So what gives you the right to think you can just leave?" He shouted towards the boss.
The boss simply looked down at him before turning around, running at a considerably slower speed, and the Jewelry tools hero swore.
"Damnit! Damned beast has to run away doesn't it?" He let out a long sigh before walking back to Kurose and Eorna at a leisurely pace.
"Nice to meet you both. Sorry I couldn't greet you back in Dajero, Dagger Hero. Some sudden stuff came up, and I didn't even know the dagger had chosen a wielder." He spoke, directing it towards Eorna.
Eorna shrugged at that, but before she could speak, he had focused on Kurose. "And you're the Accessory right?" After a small nod from Kurose, he continued. "Right, well, not exactly the way I wanted to meet you, but it is what it is it is." He raised a hand to the air before continuing. "As you probably guessed, I'm the Jewelry tools hero. Call me Matthias though. We are going to be working together after all."
"Uhh… Alright, Matthias. Shouldn't… shouldn't we be stopping the boss from escaping?" Eorna asked cautiously.
"That thing? It'll be fine. We will find it again soon enough. Right now though, need to get both of you sorted. You took a hard hit from that boss from what I saw." He directed that to Kurose, simply getting a nod in response from the Accessory hero. He put a hand into his jacket pocket before taking out a small, round gem, and chucking it to Kurose.
"Dont know how hurt you are, but use that to heal yourself, alright?" He spoke with a smile.
Kurose caught the gem, looking at it in confusion. How was this supposed to help him? Noticing his confusion, Matthias spoke up again.
"Ah right, forgot you might not have seen anything like this before. My bad. Just crush it in your hands, yeah? It's a lot more fragile than it looks. It'll do the rest of the work for you."
Kurose did as he said, tightening his grip on the crystal. He felt it disappear in his grip, and a faint light enveloped him.
He let out a sigh of relaxation as he felt his bruised side start to heal, reducing his discomfort by a considerable amount. He could also see his health bar in the corner of his vision going up.
"Just like that, yeah!" Matthias spoke with a grin.
"You don't have anything like that for SP, do you?" Eorna asked curiously. Unfortunately, she was met with a shake of his head.
"Nope, unfortunately not. I can only wish something like that existed. The only other sort of thing that exists is a green gem which helps regenerate mana, but even then, they are rare."
Eorna let out a sigh nodding her head, but Matthias grinned. "Don't worry about it! Let me just…" Matthias seemed to stare off into the distance, and then Kurose suddenly found himself with an invite to Matthias's party.
Looking at Eorna, she seemed to have the same thing, so with a hesitant nod, Kurose accepted the party invite, and his eyes widened as he took in the information.
"Level 96?" Kurose cried out in shock.
"Yeah, what's wrong with that?" Matthias asked, confused.
"N-nothing's wrong with that!" Kurose choked out. "It's just, that's the highest I've seen so far." Kurose explained.
"Huh. Well, it does make sense…" Eorna spoke quietly. "I mean, he has been a hero for a few years now." She quickly explained to Kurose.
"Dagger hero is right. Been the Jewelry tools hero for the last four years. Not always been good, but I suppose I don't really have a choice. But I suppose it was worth it in the end, being chosen by this." He looked down at his weapon as if remembering something before shaking his head. "Anyways. The pair of you need some levels. And what better way than to storm through the monsters, huh? If we do it this way, we'll find the boss in no time, and I can finally finish it off and end this wave."
"That sounds good, but there are a few things we need to talk about when the wave has ended." Eorna spoke up hesitantly.
"A few things huh? Well, I also have a few things I need to discuss with you two. Looks like we may have to hold a meeting at some point." Matthias spoke with a chuckle. "Anyways, don't worry about all that for now. Just keep your eyes on me, and like I said before, watch for an example of the power you will be wielding in the future, you hear?"
Kurose and Eorna both nodded at that, and Matthias grinned.
"That's good." Matthias turned back towards the guards, a smile on his face as he took control of the situation easily. "Guards! Go back to your posts, we will return once we have completed our objective! The subjugation of the boss of this wave!"
Despite what had recently happened, Kurose could feel the Jewelry tools hero cheerfulness infecting him, and he couldn't stop the smile growing on his face, and the cheer escaping his mouth and it seemed he wasn't the only one, as one by one, the guards started to follow suit.
Matthias tore through the hordes of monsters with ease, much to Eorna and Kurose's shock. Whenever a larger group of monsters did approach them, Matthias simply took a small object out of his pocket, shouted "Glimmer" and chucked the object at the group. After a short period of time, an explosion would occur, taking out the majority of the monsters.
Those that weren't taken out in the initial explosion were left to Kurose and Eorna to deal with, with Matthias saying it was a chance for them to grow, and improve their teamwork.
Kurose personally thought they already worked pretty well together especially considering they were essentially stuck with each other for the last however many days it was since they escaped.
Though, Kurose had been curious about that glimmer skill he was using, and asked him about it when there were no monsters nearby.
"Glimmer? That's just a regular skill. Lets me touch anything and it makes it shiny for a moment. From what I understand about it, it distracts most monsters for a short time, and after a period of time, it explodes. Leaves the object unharmed, but anything around it deals with the damage of the explosion. Pretty helpful for large groups, as you can see." Kurose had accepted the explanation, but Matthias continued on. "I did get a second skill that links to it, but I personally think it looks stupid. Certainly increases the explosion radius though."
That made Kurose even more curious. "Can we see it?" He asked quickly.
Matthias seemed to think about it for a moment, before sighing. "Sure, sure. Just give me a moment for Glimmer to come off cooldown, alright?"
Kurose nodded eagerly, and even Eorna looked interested in seeing it in action.
"Right, here we go. Glimmer!" He threw the object a decent distance away. He waited for a few monsters to gather around it before speaking again.
"Flare for the dramatic!" He lowered his thumb, as if clicking on a detonator, and the already decently sized explosion from before grew even bigger.
"Woah…" Eorna spoke breathlessly.
Kurose however, had his mind occupied by the thought of a truly bizarre show for but a moment before shaking his head.
"That was so much stronger! Why don't you use it more often?" Kurose exclaimed.
"The cooldown for Glimmer on its own is usually about 50-ish seconds roughly. Flare for the dramatic doubles that. Plus, not many things survive Glimmer on its own." Matthias shrugged as he said that. "Just no point really. The only time I really do use it is when people ask me to, like you two."
"Do people usually ask you to use it?" Eorna asked.
"Eh, there's one person. Hopefully you'll be meeting him soon." Matthias spoke with a small smile. "Been a few days since I've seen him. Even more reason to get this all over with. Come on you two. Wave boss is over there, you see?"
Matthias pointed it out to them, and Kurose could only just see it in the distance, thanks to its outline being visible against the wave crack that was opened beside it.
"Huh, it is. How can you even see that far? It's a struggle for me!"
"Just a few bonuses I've got from unlocking new weapon forms. Nothing much. Now lets go defeat the wave boss, yeah?"
The trio arrived at the wave boss's location, and it seemed the boss monster had realized that it couldn't just run forever. It looked at the trio, focusing more on Matthias than the other two, which in Kurose's mind, was completely fair. He and Eorna hadn't been the ones to send it running away after all.
Beside him, Eorna tightened her grip on her dagger, as if preparing for a fight, but Matthias put his hand up, stopping her before she could continue.
"No point in you two fighting this. You aren't prepared enough yet." He spoke.
"Then when will we ever be prepared to fight something like this?" Eorna asked, staring at the man.
"Hmm… It depends on how much stronger you two grow before the next wave. I will be dragging you there after all. Even as strong as I am, I'm certain they will eventually grow too strong for me to handle all on my own. That's where you two come in, you see?"
Eorna nodded her head, even as Matthias continued to slowly walk towards the wave boss.
"Stuff like this beast here will become commonplace in the waves. As it is, this is one of the weaker monsters I've fought. Though… They are usually a lot less aggressive. Usually, they just tend to focus on me…"
Matthias shrugged at that before speaking again. "Probably just something to do with the fact they came from a wave, I guess."
He held his hammer at his side, looking towards the wave boss once more. "Let's deal with you now, shall we?" Matthias pointed his hammer towards the wave boss, and it let out another whinny, rising onto its back legs as if making its last stand.
"There you go. Realizing it's your final chance to survive, aren't you?" He spoke darkly. "Unfortunately for you, that's not going to be enough for you to live."
Even as Matthias spoke, the wave boss lowered its head, its intertwining horns pointed toward the hero.
"Crystal Shield"
Kurose watched as a smaller, more condensed version of the skill he had used prior appeared. The boss seemed to stay stuck on it for a short period of time before shifting to the side, dodging around the shield.
"Alright! You asked for it! Ers-"
Before Matthias could say the skill name, another voice interrupted him.
"Quake!" A bored voice spoke out.
The boss toppled to the side as the ground shook, and all Kurose could see was a man sprinting up to the creature.
Before Kurose could call out, to tell them that it was dangerous, he spoke up again. "Erst Smash! Second Smash! Dritte Smash!" Three skills were shouted out in quick succession, with each skill being slammed into the boss before the next one was used. Before long, the boss was dead, with the strange man standing beside it.
Matthias's only response to that was a small sigh. "Couldn't have let me kill it, huh?" He spoke, kicking at the floor. "Could have given them some good experience." He pointed toward Eorna and Kurose, who were both confused by what had just happened.
"That… sounded like a skill, right?" Kurose whispered to Eorna.
"It did! But there's only three heroes in our world…" She confirmed his suspicions, but she seemed just as confused as he was
Matthias continued, looking towards the wave crack, and the duo followed his gaze.
"You're from there, aren't ya?" He asked, gesturing towards the crack. "You know what those people have in store for us."
Kurose finally got his first look at the person who had said the skill. He wore a coat that was kept attached to him by two latches, much like Matthias's cape. The arms of the coat were empty, his arms instead crossed in front of him. He looked towards Matthias, his amber eyes seeming to be in a perpetual glare.
"I do. They have plenty of things in store for us. I'm still annoyed that I even have to be here. But my world was threatened so there's not much to be done."
"Ho? And what have you come here for? What did those organizing this grand mess threaten your world for?"
"They were concerned about your existence. Said that such a strong contender wouldn't make the games exciting. Don't expect me to understand everything they said." The man spoke with a shrug. "Honestly, I'm thinking they sent me here on the off chance of both of us killing each other off. Probably hate how strong we are. They would much rather have weaker heroes for their games." He spoke with a sigh. The stranger raised his hand, showing off a golden mace towards the trio.
"A… mace?" Kurose spoke in confusion
Eorna spoke out loud, for different reasons altogether. "Is that… a gem in it?"
Kurose focused on it more, and he could see it. At just the bottom of the metal handle the man was holding onto, a small, purple gem stood out.
"Does that mean… he's a hero as well?" Kurose asked quietly, but he didn't get a response as Matthias continued.
"Concerned about my existence, huh? Well, why don't you run off back to your world, and report to them that I'm doing just fine, and tell them not to worry about me anymore."
"You know what I meant." The mace wielder spoke. "It's just… I can't exactly go back without having tried, can I?" He spoke with a small, sad grin.
"Ah, I see…" Matthias spoke. Kurose couldn't see his face, but he almost thought he could hear a tinge of regret in his voice. "What you said earlier. They want us to fight, don't they?"
Those words hit Kurose hard. This… this person had just appeared, and was going to try and kill Matthias? He couldn't accept this. He needed to do something. He-
He made to stand up but found himself being held back by Eorna.
"What are you-" Kurose began to shout, only to be cut off by Eorna.
"You saw how he killed the boss! Even if we were in our best condition, we probably wouldn't win!"
Even as Kurose and Eorna were struggling with each other, the conversation between the two continued.
"Yes. Much as I'd like to leave your world to its own devices… well, when you are threatened by ones like them…" The man simply shrugged.
"Yeah, yeah. I understand. Hope you know I don't plan on dying here though. Just picked up two people. Can't be leaving them this early on." Matthias spoke with a grin. "Though, I want you to promise you won't harm them two if it does end up that way, yeah?"
The man simply nodded again. "I promise that, as long as you promise not to seek revenge if you do win. Know that this is not my world's choice. My only reason to come here was for you after all. I'd much rather be back on my side than leaving it to my hero, but there's not much I can do."
"Of course. I promise not to seek revenge on your world." Matthias answered honestly. "Allow me to introduce myself. Matthias Orezmund, hero of the Jewelry tools." Even as he spoke, he held his hammer tightly, as if preparing to run.
"I see. Well then, I suppose I'll follow your lead. Hewitt Brismur, wielder of the Vassal mace."
The second the words left his mouth, Matthias had begun to dash forward, shouting as he did.
"Wild dash!" Matthias closed the gap between them
The foreign hero gripped his mace with both hands, meeting his strike with ease.
Matthias jumped back, reaching into his pocket as he grabbed another round gem. "Glimmer!"
He chucked the object towards Hewitt, who simply smacked it to the side with his mace. A few seconds later, the explosion went off, but neither of them focused on it.
Hewitt raised his mace above his head before shouting. "Cave In!"
He brought his mace down, and Matthias shouted a familiar skill.
"Crystal Shield!"
Yet, much to his shock, the Mace slammed into it, pausing only for a second, but Matthias took that opportunity to dash to the side. The mace slammed into the floor, causing a visible dent as the ground shook.
The shaking ground caused Matthias to be slightly off, his hammer glancing off the man's shoulder pad, but it still left its mark, even as Hewitt let out a hiss.
Matthias took this opportunity to jump back again, and Kurose began to struggle against Eorna again.
"Let me go! We have to help him out!"
"We-" Eorna was cut off before she could explain.
"No! You're staying there. Keep him restrained. If he becomes too much, knock him out, alright?" Matthias shouted to Eorna.
Kurose stopped struggling as he stared at the two heroes fighting. He needed to do something! He was the Holy Hero, so surely there had to be something he could do! He didn't want to feel more useless than he had already today! He had barely even done anything in the wave, his entire job had been to drag enemies towards everyone so they could attack them. He wanted to be on the front lines, really doing something!
Even as he thought that the sound of the hammer smacking against the mace drew his eyes back to the fight.
"I, the Mace Hero, command thee. Increase my speed, so I may accomplish my task! Grant me the power to outpace my foe!" The area around him seemed to pulse slightly, and Matthias jumped back, expecting some sort of attack.
"Amplification!" Hewitt shouted, and a light blue glow surrounded him. He began to move faster, striking at Matthias with rapid hits.
Matthias managed to dodge a couple, but he was caught off guard by the sudden increase in speed. The result was the Mace wielder managing to land two hits on him. The first was a glancing blow, scraping against Matthias's side, but the second was on his left shoulder, making it fall limp almost immediately.
"Fu-" He bit his tongue, his weapon form changing to a pair of wire cutters as he shouted. "Snip!"
Almost immediately, the blue glow surrounding Hewitt vanished, leaving him leaning precariously as he had been in the middle of sprinting at Matthias with the spell active.
Matthias didn't let the opportunity go to waste, his weapon changing again to a small bench knife. He slashed at the other hero's legs, drawing blood due to the man having nothing to cover them.
The man collapsed to one leg, looking up in shock. In a desperate act, he swung his mace wildly, but he missed completely.
The Jewelry tools hero managed to get behind him but was unable to grab him properly. What he ended up having to do was push the hero to the ground, using the momentum he already had to make it easier on himself.
With Hewitt starting to fall to the ground, Matthias sat on his stomach, his bench knife pressed tightly against the other hero's throat.
"I told you, didn't I?" Matthias spoke quietly. "I'm not going to let myself die. Not here, not now. Especially not since I have other reasons to live."
The hero let out a grunt, raising his hand. "I know, I know. I tried, didn't I? I did what was asked of me, you know?" He spoke with a smirk.
Matthias let go of him, a smirk of his own on his face. "Yeah, yeah I know what you mean. I assume that was the extent of it? They asked you to try and eliminate me?"
"Yeah, that's all they asked. I tried and failed, so they can't complain."
"Hmph, smart one, aren't you?" Matthias spoke.
"Suppose so. Don't exactly like being forced to play by their rules, so I simply found a loophole in the instructions they gave me."
"Playing a risky game with that. They might kill you just for that. If not, they'll probably punish you." Matthias pointed out.
"Well, if they do decide to take it out on someone, better for me to deal with it than others. If I keep their focus on me, all the better." He spoke, shrugging.
"I guess so. I assume I'll be seeing you then?" Matthias asked.
"Yeah, I guess you will. Oh, but my hero wanted to ask one thing." Hewitt stood up straighter than before.
"She has asked if your Heroes would like a… truce. What has already been set up is already going to be perilous, for everyone involved. We do not know how many others they have included in this, so not having to worry about going after each other would put us both more at ease."
Matthias seemed to think about it for a moment, and Kurose whispered to Eorna. "What are they talking about!?" He complained. "They keep talking about them, some sort of games and something that has been set up!"
Eorna agreed with him on that. "I know! It's just stupid! We need to know if we want to be prepared, right?"
Even as the two spoke to each other, Matthias answered.
"Could you give us some time to discuss this?" He asked slowly, getting a nod from Hewitt.
"Of course. Though be warned that I will only be able to converse with you if the wave connects both of our worlds."
"So you're saying there's a chance that we might get attacked by other heroes?" He asked slowly.
"Indeed. Whilst I would like to ask you to try and form a truce, maybe even an alliance with them, I understand some will be less likely to accept than others." Hewitt explained. "I will be awaiting your answer regarding this matter."
"What happens if our worlds don't get connected again?" Matthias questioned him.
"Then I suppose I will find your answer during the games, won't I?" Hewitt spoke simply. "If that is all, I must be off. My hero is still fighting on the other side of the wave, and I would much rather not leave her undefended for longer than I have to. Farewell."
With a small bow, he moved back towards the crack, walking through it. The three heroes watched as he did that, but one was more focused on it than the others.
"Another world, huh…" Eorna spoke quietly. "I wonder what that would be like…"
"What are you saying, Eorna?" Kurose asked, getting a shake of her head in response.
Before Eorna could speak, the skies seemed to clear back up a few moments after Hewitt had walked through it, returning it to its normal hues, not a crack in sight.
"It's… done?" Kurose spoke slowly as if he couldn't believe it. They had survived the wave, albeit not through their efforts. If it had just been him and Eorna, they would have probably been overwhelmed, considering how much stronger the monsters were.
It was thanks to Matthias's help, who had cleared the majority of the monsters. Now that Kurose paid attention, from Matthias clearing those monsters, he had gone up a total of 4 levels in what was the last hour of fighting. Just how much stronger were they than him?
Kurose shook his head, even as he walked closer to Matthias, with Eorna trailing behind him.
"Well," Matthias spoke. "Time to start harvesting this beast, huh? Do you mind cutting it up for us Dagger Hero? You know how to do that, right?"
"Cut… it up?" Eorna asked questioningly. "Can't I just cut it into thirds?" She asked.
"Huh? You mean you two have been absorbing entire corpses of monsters without dissecting them?" He asked back in shock.
"Yeah?" "What else are we supposed to do?" Kurose and Eorna both spoke at the same time.
"You are supposed to cut them up! If the monsters are big enough, you can absorb their skin, bones, and all that sort of good stuff! It gives you tons of weapon forms! The only difference between doing it is that absorbing the entire monster usually gives you one, stronger weapon form!"
"So, have we been doing it wrong the entire time?" Kurose asked.
"Not wrong exactly. It's just all those monsters you have probably killed could have given you a couple more weapon forms. Like these horns. They will probably give something neat. One for all of us. Come over here and chop them off!"
Eorna looked at him before speaking. "Can't you do it?" She asked curiously.
In response, Matthias gestured towards his limp arm, and Eorna looked down in embarrassment.
"O-oh yeah, right…"
Eorna did as Matthias said, quickly cutting off the horns. They were distributed among the small group, and Kurose absorbed his.
Odontotyrannos Horn Necklace
Rarity: Rare
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: "Spiral Strike"
Equip Effect: C horn launch
Gem Slots: 4(O,O,O,O)
Kurose looked at the weapon form quickly.
"That's… pretty good. It gave me a new skill and a counter." Kurose spoke up.
"Yeah, it gave me a skill as well!" Eorna called out.
"That's another benefit. Might get more skills from doing stuff like this. If the monster is big enough, try cutting it into parts, alright? Accessory hero, are you going to-"
Matthias looked at him for a moment before sighing. "Ah, you haven't got a knife or anything. Something else we will have to sort out later."
"But wouldn't I get zapped for that?" Kurose asked.
"Nope. only if you intend to use it for fighting." Matthias explained.
Whilst this was happening, Eorna had begun to strip the boss into three separate piles, one for each of the heroes.
"Right. I think I have got everything?" Eorna asked questioningly.
Matthias looked over it for a moment before nodding his head. "Yeah, looks like it. Start absorbing, then we will talk, yeah?"
Kurose and Eorna looked at eachother, before reaching over to their piles, absorbing everything in it.
Odontotyrannos Skin Scarf
Rarity: Uncommon
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus Fire resistance (Small)
Gem Slots: 2(O,O)
Odontotyrannos Bone Ring
Rarity: Uncommon
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: +5 defense
Gem Slots: 2(O,O)
Odontotyrannos Meat Ring
Rarity: Uncommon
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: Strength up (Small)
Gem Slots: 2(O,O)
Odontotyrannos Hoof Ring
Rarity: Uncommon
Abilities Locked Equip Bonus: +5 agility
Gem Slots: 2(O,O)
Kurose quickly read through the weapons he had absorbed, already starting to make a mental list of what weapons to unlock first.
Right, so the Odontotyrannos Necklace is first, for the skill, but after that, I think i'll unlock the ring. Im curious about what the Strength up means. Does it up my strength stat by a set percentage? Because if so, that will be super helpful…
He was so deep in thought, that he didn't even notice Eorna calling out to him.
"-rose? Kurose!" Eorna hit him in the shoulder, and he looked at her, having been taken out of his thoughts.
"Huh? What's up?" Kurose asked.
"I've been trying to get your attention! We need to tell him about… well, everything!"
It took Kurose a moment to understand, before he started nodding his head. "Y-yeah! We have got to tell you everything that's happened so far!" Kurose shouted.
"Preferably before the guards show up!" Eorna added.
Matthias simply nodded his head. "Well, I don't see why you are so concerned about the guards, but if it's that important, start telling me now, yeah?"
The pair looked at each other, before Eorna began to explain what had happened to the pair.
Eorna and Kurose stood by each other. It had been a minute or so since they had finished explaining everything to Matthias. He hadn't interrupted them a single time during the explanation, simply listening to them.
Kurose was starting to get nervous that the elder hero wouldn't believe them, and would instead leave their fate in the prince's hands. Even as Kurose went to speak up, Matthias spoke.
"Did… Did Reval really say that?" Matthias asked slowly. "Did he really say that he had a way to steal a Lesser weapon?"
Eorna nodded her head. "He did. Someone in the castle, Kurose's charm teacher, said he was going to see if he could get more information about it, to see if it was the truth or not."
Matthias took a breath, looking up to the sky. "Reval…" He whispered quietly. "Just what are you planning?" He shook his head, looking back at the two heroes.
"I'll admit. It hurts me to know that King Brovask has died. But rest assured, from your performance in this wave, I'm certain that you were not the one who killed him. It…" He seemed conflicted as he cut himself off.
"It doesn't matter. It's clear that you aren't safe in Ortensca at the moment. As much as I would have liked to kept you two here to try and sort out things between you and Reval, we don't have the time nor luxury, not until the next two waves are dealt with. It says there are 28 days until the next wave hits Ortensca…"
Matthias paused at that. "Huh, 28. That's nice. That will give us plenty of time at least. Anyways, the two Palinfa waves are in 5 and 10 days, so we need to get you prepared for them, and prepare for any other heroes that might try to attack us."
Matthias let out a groan. "So much preparation to be done, and so little time… At least it will get me out of my duties for a bit…" Matthias added the last part quietly.
"Anyways. As much as you two might not want to, we still have to go back to the guards at the village. got to make sure we give them a report on what happened. But I won't let them get you. You have my word." Matthias spoke with a smile.
Kurose and Eorna looked at each other, and Matthias spoke up again. "Hey! Don't you trust me? I haven't done anything to hurt you two!" He cried out.
"Well, it's just what if they do try attacking us?" Eorna asked slowly.
"Well, I'll stop them. Do you really think any of them are good enough to take on a level 96? Let alone a level 96 hero?" He asked.
Kurose has to admit, he had a good point. From how he was demolishing the monsters around then compared to how he and the guards had been dealing with them, there was a clear difference in strength between regular people and heroes.
"Plus, it'll give us opportunities to absorb the other monsters on the way back. So it still helps us get stronger."
Kurose and Eorna both reluctantly nodded, and began to follow Matthias back towards the village.
The monsters they absorbed on the way back didn't give any notable bonuses or skills, just simple stat increases which Kurose wouldn't reject.
Though, he did find the names interesting.
Interdimensional Harpy scarf unlocked!
Interdimensional Harpy feather scarf unlocked!
Interdimensional Harpy Claw unlocked!
Etc
The list continued on, and he was gaining several more weapon forms whenever Eorna cut something up. It made him wonder why they hadn't been doing it before this point.
But that was another issue. Each of the monsters he had absorbed had Interdimensional before their name, and they all seemed to follow a theme.
For example, the Harpies. He barely paid attention during history lessons, but even he knew that Harpies were from Greek mythology. And whilst he didn't know whether the other two, the Interdimensional Stymphalin Birds and Interdimensional Cerastes, were part of Greek mythology, he was willing to bet they were.
Did all waves have a theme for monsters? Or was it just pure luck that this wave had only Greek monsters? Kurose couldn't make sense of it, and resolved to ask someone more knowledgeable on the subject, if he found them it was
Though that did beg the question. If it was Greek based monsters, did that mean there was a chance that they could have potentially fought a hydra? If so, that thought terrified him. As strong as Matthias was, he didn't think the hero would be capable of taking out something like that. Not as easily at least..
Whilst they had been walking back, Matthias had made sure to not leave a single monster in their path, absorbing every single one. Kurose wasn't sure why. Maybe he just wanted to make the work easier for the guards when they eventually had to sort out all of this?
Kurose didn't know, and it wasn't his job to question it, so he simply kept following the elder hero back to the village. It took them a total of 30 minutes to get to the village. It had been extended slightly due to Matthias absorbing more monsters, but they did eventually find themselves at the village.
The group of guards that Kurose had managed to organize were split. Half were looking out for any monster that might have still remained, whilst the other half were busy already dragging monster corpses to a pile.
One of the guards noticed the trio, and walked up to him. From what Kurose could see, he didn't belong to the group he had organized, if the red cape on his back was anything to go by. He certainly didn't remember anyone having a red cape.
"Jewelry tools hero. It's a pleasure to meet you." The guard spoke politely, bowing his head.
Kurose couldn't help but feel like the guard was purposefully ignoring him and Eorna.
"It is a pleasure to meet you as well." Matthias spoke with a smile. "Am I to presume you are the captain?" He asked.
"I am. I was busy trying to evacuate everyone else with a few other guards to ensure that they did not get harmed during the wave, but I'm glad you managed to deal with it."
"That's good to hear." Matthias said. "I'm assuming you'd like a report of what happened here?"
"I would. I will have to report this to the King." The captain explained.
"Of course. Then I'll give you a brief recap. Me, the Accessory Hero, and the Dagger hero made our way through the monsters keeping us from the boss. Once we got there, we engaged it, only for it to be killed by someone coming from the wave."
The captain's eyes widened. "Someone… from the wave?" He asked in concern. "Are you sure that's true?" He asked Matthias.
"It is, you can ask these two." Matthias gestured towards Kurose and Eorna, and the guard took a deep breath.
"Please continue your report."
"Of course. From what I gathered, he was the hero of another world, specifically, the Mace hero. He managed to injure me, as you can see from…" he gestured towards his limp left arm with a smile.
"I see. What happened after?"
"I managed to restrain him, and he returned to his world from what he said. He claimed they were fighting a wave on their side as well."
The captain nodded his head in understanding. "I see, I see. That is concerning. I will relay this information to the King as soon as I can. Though, there is another issue that must be solved first."
He gestured towards Kurose and Eorna, speaking up. "Are you aware of what the Dagger hero has done?" He asked Matthias.
"I am." He confirmed in a neutral voice.
"Then surely you believe that she should be suitably punished, yes?" He asked.
"I would agree…" Matthias began.
"Then would you help us restrai-" The captain raised his sword to Eorna, who raised her dagger in response. She looked between the captain and Matthias.
"If I thought she had committed the crime." Matthias finished, earning a stare from the captain.
"Then I suppose it is up to me to take care of this false hero!"
The captain moved forward, slashing at Eorna, only to have his sword be knocked out of his hand by Matthias, who's weapon form was back to his hammer.
"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to do that." Matthias responded. "I have already given my word to these two that I would protect them. And would it not be better for her to be tried after the waves are done?" He questioned the captain.
The captain simply sighed before speaking up. "Guards! Surround the heroes!"
The guards quickly began to spread out, encircling the heroes, as the captain spoke once more. "I will ask you one last time, Jewelry tools hero. Move out of the way, so that we may restrain the Dagger hero."
"I'm afraid not. I, Matthias Orezmund, Seventeenth King of Palinfa, wielder of the Jewelry tools, will not allow you to take these two. They are needed to defend the world, and I will not allow you to stop our world from surviving these calamities. Are you willing to go against the might of Palinfa, for the small chance of getting the justice you want?"
The captain growled, even as the circle closed in on them.
Matthias could only shake his head. "Some people. No matter how kind you try to be…" he let out a sigh before speaking up once more. "We will be taking our leave now." He declared.
Kurose was confused by what he meant, and he watched as Matthias lifted his hammer to the air.
The captain's eyes widened, and he shouted, even as he dashed forward. "Stop them!"
"Portal Jewelry tools!"
Kurose watched as a blue light surrounded him, and his stomach jerked, even as the trio disappeared from where they stood.
The captain dived through the spot the trio had just been before cursing. "Contact the king! Tell him the heroes have been taken to Palinfa!"
One of the guards ran back to the village, and the captain cursed once more.
"The King will not be happy about this…"
End of the chapter!
I uh… kinda forgot to post last week lol. But it's here now at least.
Vassal heroes from another world, vague mentions of something going on, a truce offered, and being transported elsewhere!
Quite a few things in this chapter honestly. Hopefully it's good enough, I'm well aware my writing for fights (or in general) isn't decent, but I think I did a good job for the fight between Hewitt and Matthias. Though, if anyone has any suggestions on how to make fights flow easier and all that, I would be down to hear them.
Until next time, I suppose.