Chapter 17: Rishia Ivyred
Rishia flinched as she saw the soldiers run the false bandits down, blade slashing and drawing blood by the dozens as bodies dotted all over the battlefield.
She had read of the exploits and battles of the wars of old back when she was still in school, but the words on the pages weren't enough to prepare her for everything that was unfolding under her.
Bloody and chaotic, with men dying one after another on either side; not as chivalrous as described in the records, nor as heroic sounding as the old knights described them out to be.
Her eyes turned to the one that saved her many days ago, the Bow Hero firing arrow after arrow down and incapacitating the fake bandits; it was quite a sight to see especially with his arrows somehow curving mid-flight.
Despite having that neutral expression that she had considered to be rather dashing, there was a sense of forcefulness in it right now, along with a certain hesitation in how he drew back the bowstring.
'He didn't want to kill them…'
It was written in the records of the past Cardinal Heroes that most of the Heroes summoned were rather young; with the oldest being around their early twenties at the minimum.
Judging by his appearance alone, Itsuki had to be around her age or younger; and such a young man had been tasked with shooting arrows into soldiers to assist in killing them.
"Rishia, give me a boost."
"Fueh! R-Right! First Power!"
"Arrow Rain!"
Boosted by Rishia's spell, Itsuki unleashed a barrage of ethereal arrows from his bow that rained down from above and onto the fake bandits, stopping them in their attempt to ambush the soldiers' weakened flank and allowing them to counterattack.
And with it, they began aggressively pushing back against the fake bandits' advance; the latter were making it really difficult for the soldiers to do so as many of them had taken to holding their ground by any means necessary.
It was insane with how zealous they were, especially when several of them even transformed into full beastmen and started rampaging across the battlefield like beasts, sending the soldiers flying with wild swings of their arms.
"Yeah, these are definitely not bandits." Grif noted, "No bandits are this zealous in holding their ground."
"Do you have any idea which country's soldiers they are from?" Itsuki asked.
"Judging by the number of demi-humans involved, it is either Siltvelt or Shieldfreeden."
"Siltvelt… that's the country of demi-humans; the one that Melromarc is hostile against, right? Is Shieldfreeden the same?"
"Shieldfreeden is a k-kingdom that s-split off from Siltvelt…" Rishia chimed in, "I-It is also a demi-human supremist kingdom that worships the S-Shield Hero…"
"And both kingdoms don't like Melromarc, so it could be either of them." Grif pointed out, "Or it could be both of them, considering they are allied kingdoms."
"…Melromarc sure has a lot of enemies…" Itsuki noted.
"It's actually just them; most of the other kingdoms aren't actually that hostile towards Melromarc." The mercenary noted, "Either way, it does not change what we have to do."
"…Right… if we can just make them retreat or surrender…"
"Once their leader is taken care of, they should naturally surrender; though it would be difficult with how desperate they are in holding their ground."
That gave Rishia a sense of foreboding; while there were records of armies taking a last desperate stand to hold their position, it was mostly due to either them having no other choice in the matter or it was their last line of defense.
That, however, wasn't such a case here. There was no reason for them to not retreat and flee to fight another day; there was no reason for them to hold their ground so zealously like they were.
'Unless…'
"They're stalling…!" Rishia turned to the Bow Hero, "They're not holding their ground! They are stalling!"
"Stalling? For what?"
"RETREAT! GET OFF OF THE BATTLEFIELD!"
The familiar cry of Liya rang out across the battlefield as the other half of their party came running out from behind the enemy lines, all three of them looking to be desperately fleeing from something behind them as they pushed past the fake bandits and back onto their side.
A beastly cry echoed moments later as a giant wolf made itself known in the most destructive way possible; by charging after them and smashing right through the knights along with any unfortunate beastmen that were in its path.
Scars dotting its body with fur as dark as the starless night sky, white fur around its eyes along with the star-shaped patch, and light gray fur around its paws akin to socks.
"It's massive! What kind of monster is that!?" Grif cried out.
"Elder Grim Wolf…" Rishia stuttered out in shock, "I-It's an E-Elder Grim Wolf!"
"Elder Grim Wolf!? That folk legend!? It's real!? It's not some overly exaggerated Grim Wolf that some drunk made up!?"
"A-Apparently…!"
"How did they even find such a monster!?"
"That must be the monster that almost smashed the gates open." Itsuki noted.
Once it was in the middle of the soldiers, it began rampaging through them like the wild beast that it was; swinging its claws around and sending the platoons that were closest to it flying away in a spray of blood and gore.
The luckier ones that managed to avoid the initial swings immediately pulled back and made a mad dash towards the safety of the city gates, as the archers on the walls fired barrage after barrage of arrows at it to try and cover for their retreat.
But it was of no use, as the projectiles simply bounced off its fur like rain on metal with the clanking sounds of the monster's defense negating each and every one of their attacks, as the beast carried on its rampage against the fleeing soldiers.
"As expected of a monster of legend." Grif noted with a grimace, "It really leaves up to its destructive reputation."
"It truly is a hidden field boss…" Itsuki noted.
"Sir Itsuki!"
The Bow Hero looked down at Liya who was waving at them from below with the two other girls behind her; he tapped Grif on the shoulder who nodded in response and directed Talos down to the ground in front of them.
"What's the situation?" He asked as he helped Rishia down from the griffin.
"We managed to kill the commander." She told him, "But he managed to give that monster one last order before dying."
"What order did he give?"
"To kill all the humans."
"Tch, they are definitely from Siltvelt." Grif clicked his tongue in annoyance, "Only someone from there would go this far even in death."
"T-Then all of the soldiers are in danger!" Rishia cried out.
"And if it breaks through those gates, so is everyone in town." Theresa noted.
"Then there's only one thing to do." Itsuki aimed his bow at the rampaging wolf monster and drew back the bowstring, "We need to take it down right here and now."
"Shooting Star Arrow!"
"Get into formation!"
The arrow was fired, leaving behind a trail of sparkling stars as it struck the wolf's head with a huge explosion; that drew its attention towards us as we all began attacking the folk monster.
Trish attacked first as she unleashed her spell at her in quick succession and pummeled the monster with a barrage of inky shadow arrows, which did little more than irritate it than actually hurt it with how easily it shook it off.
But when it was distracted by it, I threw several of my special pellets right into the wolf's face, spraying the monster's eyes with my special blinding powder that did the trick as it began shaking its head vigorously in an attempt to get rid of it.
"Eclair! Grif! Now's your chance!"
""On it!""
And with it blinded, the wolf could not react when Grif, Talos and Eclair launched their attack on it; the mercenary taking to the skies with his mount while the former knight striking at the monster's massive foot with her new sword.
Me and Trish followed quickly after them, with my partner unloading more spells at it while I swung Chain Cross and slashed into its furry hide many times; all the while Itsuki provided covering fire from the rear with Rishia providing boosting and healing spells from afar.
It was quite a weird feeling to be boosted by magic, but the extra speed allowed me to strike more times at once so that was greatly appreciated.
It began clear the moment any of our attacks landed that we were the only ones that had the stats to even damage the giant wolf, though the most we could achieve was akin to small scratches to the giant monster.
Grif was the only one that had managed to draw blood with his strikes, even if it was only several droplets of it.
And the beast was not one to let us wail on it one-sidedly, as it flailed about in a blind frenzy in an attempt to get any of us; most of us barely managed to dodge the massive yet swift claws, with Talos barely managing to avoid getting chewed by its massive jaws.
"Damn it! We're barely making a dent in it!" Grif cried out.
"Even so, we need to keep at it!" Eclair shouted, "Otherwise, it is going to destroy the town and all its inhabitants!"
With that said, we all rushed back in and began attacking at the beast with every possible option we could come up with; it eventually rampaged about and forced us to evade and fall back, until it stopped and we charged back with another assault.
This back and forth between us and the monster went on dozens of times, with each attack slowly stacking upon each other with each run and leaving visibly expanding patches of red on its fur.
But even then, they were nothing more than scratches to the monster wolf which did nothing aside from keeping its focus on us; and most of us began to feel the exhaustion from this seemingly endless fight.
"This is getting us nowhere…!" Trish cried out.
We needed a way to properly end it, preferably in one blow. And the only one we could rely on for that was…
"Sir Itsuki!" I called out to the Bow Hero, "Do you have anything that could kill that beast!?"
"…yeah, I do! But with the SP I have left; I could only do it once!" He told me, "You guys need to hold it down long enough for me to take the shot!"
"You got it! You guys heard him! Hold that beast down!"
""On it!""
"I-I'll provide support! First Power! First Speed!"
After relaying those orders to the rest of the party, we rushed towards the giant wolf as Rishia boosted us with her spells; I made sure to toss several high-end magic potions to Trish before fully dashing into the fray.
"Aim for the hind legs!" I called out, "We need to slow it down!"
The best way for us to hold down such a giant monster was to first halt its movements before holding it in place with Trish's shadow tendrils, so the best course of action was to at the very least cripple one of its legs.
Though I highly doubt it would allow us to do it unchallenged; the scars on the Elder Grim Wolf's body were proof of the many battles it had managed to survive, few of which must have used similar tactics before.
And even with its eyes currently blinded from my earlier powder pellet, it was still a wolf that was notorious for their keen sense of smell; a sense that had no doubt been improved exponentially in its mythical evolution.
"Okay! Grif! Give me a lift!"
"We will distract it! You guys focus on taking out its leg!"
The mercenary descended and allowed Trish to hop aboard the griffin as they both took to the air and flew towards the monster's head, before my partner unleashed a barrage of shadow arrows at it that hurt it as much as a bunch of needles.
But it had the intended result, as the Elder Grim Wolf immediately turned to their direction and let out a loud roar in response, before snapping its jaws right where they had been, all the while me and Eclair swiftly made our way toward our intended target.
Once in range, I swung Chain Cross and slashed into the vulnerable hind leg, and was once again made aware of how high the beast's defense was with only a shallow cut being made from the strike.
"Damn it! We need a way to strike harder…!"
"Move aside, Liya! Four Cross!"
Eclair dashed past me at insane speeds as her sword glowed brightly with magic power, before swiftly slicing into the limb twice in the shape of a cross; the attack slicing right through the wolf monster's thick hide and into its heel, drawing more blood than Grif had done moments prior.
But even then, the damage done was barely skin deep and didn't even reach the muscles.
"I'm not done yet! Magic Thrust!"
With her sword still glowing with power, Eclair stabbed into the fresh wound and pierced into flesh, before twisting to inflict more damage to it; the effect was instant as blood began gushing out of the widening wound as the wolf let out a loud cry of pain.
The monster then kicked out its leg and threw Eclair off it, before turning around and swinging its front paw down on us; I barely managed to get away from the strike itself but the winds from its limb impacting the ground sent me tumbling across the ground.
I twisted my body and got on my feet as I skidded to a stop, just as the former knight landed perfectly next to me, no worse to wear aside from the thin coat of crimson staining most of her clothes.
"You alright?"
"I'm fine. But it looks like that last strike finally did it.
The sight of the giant wolf limping with one of its hind legs hovering above the ground was a clear indication that what we had succeeded; with a crippled leg, it would be easier for us to hold it down for the Bow Hero.
"Great! Trish!"
"All Zwiet Shadow Bind!"
"Gwooh!?"
A quick chant had my partner's now signature spell's many tendrils slithering up its front legs before pulling and locking them down onto the ground; I quickly followed up by swinging and wrapping Chain Cross around its uninjured hind legs and pulled it as hard as I could.
"Got—woah!?"
"I've got you!"
Unfortunately, no doubt due to my lack of size and weight, I wasn't able to hold it down before I was dragged back when the wolf monster simply kicked back said leg. I would have been pulled towards it if Eclair hadn't grabbed hold onto me and assisted in pulling the chain, now keeping the beast from truly escaping.
"Damn my shortness…!"
Thanks to her, we were able to finally hold the damn beast down, giving the Bow Hero the opening that he needed to unload his skill upon it. And hopefully put an end to this tiresome battle for good.
"Sir Itsuki!"
"You have my thanks! I'll be sure to kill it with this attack!"
Said Hero was already pulling back his bowstring, the glowing tip of an arrow made of light aimed straight at the now chained beast; said projectile seemingly glowed even brighter as he took a steady aim at it.
Almost instinctively realizing the dangers of that single attack, the monster struggled even harder to break free from its bonds; I could feel my arms threatening to pop out of its socket with each time it kicked out its leg.
Then, the Elder Grim Wolf decided to remind us why its mythical status was not unearned, as it managed to free on of its front legs and raised it high up, a soft glow of magic radiating off it before slamming said limb down onto the ground.
"Liya, let go—"
Trish's warning came too late as the moment the leg struck the ground; it shook as cracks of a similar glow spread like a spider webbing around the impact point along with bellowing insane winds.
The sudden quake and strong gusts caught us completely by surprise and had made Eclair lose her footing, sending her flying off me as a result and leaving me to get dragged towards the monster with a particularly strong jerk from its hind leg.
I tried to anchor myself via pushing my heels into the ground and pulling back as hard as I could, but that only left drag marks in the soil with no signs of slowing down, before hitting a particularly sturdy rock and losing my footing.
"Shit, shit, shiiitt!"
Curses left my mouth as I tumbled about all the while getting dragged about by my own weapon, with one particularly bad tumble dislocating my shoulder and left my arm dangling on my side like a wet noodle.
The wolf took notice of my predicament and thrashing its hind leg around, sending me spinning and flailing about all over the place like a struggling fish at the end of a fishing line.
"Liya! Hang on!"
"Kind of hard… not to… Trish…!"
"This is not the time for sarcasm!"
"Again…! Kind of hard… not to…!"
Verbal jabs aside, I could feel nothing but pain across my entire body, with my remaining arm feeling like it would soon tear apart from the strain of getting pulled about by my own weapon.
Even then, I'd never loosen my grip around the handle even the slightest; a combination of survival instinct, desperation, and sheer stubbornness driving me to not let go of Chain Cross no matter what, to at least try to keep the beast bound.
After all, Trish and I were the only two people who had the means to bind the beast down to begin with; though that was proving to be harder to do each time I received another bruise.
Rishia could only watch in terror as Liya was swung about by her own weapon by the bounded beast's leg, the apothecary being slammed into the ground with painful thuds multiple times.
It was clear that she had no intention of letting go of her weapon, and the Elder Grim Wolf had every intention to throw her off its leg with all it got; if that meant killing her in the process, there was no doubt it would do it.
'Liya's going to die at this rate! There has to be something we can do to help!'
The masked swordswoman Theresa was still recovering from getting thrown off, the mercenary Grif was still carrying Trish who was completely focused on holding down the beast's front leg.
And the Bow Hero was still in the middle of preparing his Skill and was unable to do anything else.
She was the only one available to do something to help the young apothecary, and she was panicking because of it.
'But what can I do!? What can I do!? I'm not as strong as the others, or as fast… the only thing I'm good at is…'
The list of spells she had learnt spun through her mind until one certain spell came to mind; it was a weak spell that would do no damage to the mythical beast they were fighting.
Except that it was currently the fastest attack spell she knew, one that only required a short chant to cast that she could deploy in mere moments, and one with the effect needed for this situation.
'I have only one chance… I better do it right…!'
Downing the last of the magic potions she had on her, she raised her hand towards the massive beast and chant out the chosen spell.
"I am the source of a power. Heed my words; gather the air in front of me and throw it at the opponent! First Air Shot!"
Air gathered in front of her outstretched hand till it was an orb the size of her palm, which she then aimed at the beast before launching it; the invisible projectile sped through the air like a stone threw from a sling.
It then struck onto the monster, dealing virtually no damage to it; a pretty pointless attack for everyone watching her.
However, it had also struck the beast in one of its most sensitive parts; the nose in the front of its massive head.
A move that would change the tide of the losing battle back into the party's favor.
The hind leg suddenly stopped thrashing about and I plopped down onto the ground face first with a loud thud, earning a broken nose if the sudden wetness along with the intense smell of iron was any indication.
The green glow of Rishia's healing magic washed over me as the pain dissipated as along with the other minor injuries I had sustained from the past couple of minutes, not including my dislocated shoulder and broken nose.
I glanced up to see the beast was shaking its head after letting out a loud sneeze which was followed up with a soft whine ill-befitting a monster of its size.
Did someone distract that beast somehow? Who and how did they…?
"I've got you, Liya!"
"Talos! The chain!"
"GWAAK!"
In that brief respite, Grif and Talos swiftly descended down next to me while Eclair came running back, the former knight helping me to my feet as the mercenary had his mount grabbed onto Chain Cross's chains with its beak.
Then with a leap, the griffin pulled back and locked down the hind leg, as the rest of us joined in and pulled on the chain with her.
At the same time, I could see more shadow tendrils courtesy of Trish binding down the freed limb, rendering the beast immobile once more as it struggled even more against its new bindings.
But we knew that it wouldn't hold for long, and it could use the same magic from earlier to get free again; though it would not be as easy as it had previously done.
This needed to end, now.
"""Sir Itsuki!"""
"R-Right! This is the finishing move! Eagle Piercing Shot!"
The Bow Hero released the bow string and fired the glowing arrow at the beast, the projectile turning into the shape of a large predatory bird that flew straight into the beast's forehead right between its eyes.
It pierced through its defense and broke right through the skull into its head, before breaking through the other side in a streak of light that dissipated in the distance, leaving its target motionless as blood trickled down the hole.
At first, it seemed like it did not do anything to it, that Itsuki's attack had failed to kill it; but on closer inspection, its eyes were unfocused and cloudy, and its jaws had slacked open like that of a corpse.
The beast had died, and yet its body had refused to keel over.
"It died… standing up…?" Grif noted in awe, "That's… kind of cool."
"I'm just glad we are finally able to kill that thing in the end…" I added as I finally let go of Chain Cross and dropped to my knees, all the exhaustion and pain from the fight came flooding in.
"Liya, your arm is…!"
"Yeah, I am aware. Hang on, just let me—Ow, ow, ow! Stop! Stop! You don't fix a dislocation like that!"
"How else am I going to push it back in?"
"Not by strong-arming it like that, you musclehead! I want to be able to use that arm again, thank you very much!"
Eclair, being the musclehead that she was, had tried to fix my dislocated shoulder by shoving the joint back in, much to my dismay and agony; I'd thought as a knight she would have at least learnt how to not aggravate a dislocated joint!
"Well, sorry for trying to help!"
"Damnit, just follow my instructions accordingly! Look, you first have to…"
"I-It's dead! The Bow Hero and his party killed that monster!"
"Now's our chance! Capture the bandits!"
With a loud cheer and boosted morale, the town's gate opened as all of the surviving soldiers dashed out from behind it, running past Rishia and towards the disguised soldiers.
The noble girl couple only watched in terror as they ran down their enemies with a vengeance, her face paling as she saw some being overly brutal with their attacks to the point of barbarity.
'I know they are the ones in the wrong, but to go that far…? Is it because they are demi-humans…?'
Her eyes wandered to the Bow Hero, his expression no longer the forced mask and was now a mix of awe and horror as he also watched the brutality the soldiers were inflicting on the fake bandits.
He even looked like he was about to hurl up everything at the amount of gore that they were causing; his hand pressing against his mouth in an attempt to keep himself from doing so.
"Urgh… I really hate this feeling…"
"J-Just hang in there, Trish…"
Rishia turned her attention back to Trish, who was suffering from intense mana exhaustion as she groaned groggily while leaning on her friend; it was only natural, considering how long she had to maintain her spell's hold on the beast.
'If only I hadn't downed that last magic potion…'
Moments later, Talos landed in front of them with the rest of the party on its back; the apothecary quickly alighted the moment she saw Trish and handed the noble girl a potion with a braided rope tied around it.
"Here; this should help her with the mana exhaustion."
"Ah, o-ok! But what about y-your injuries?"
"Eh, it's just a broken nose; nothing a simple healing potion can't fix. Trish, on the other hand, looks like she is about to keel over any moment."
"Just… kill me…"
"You tied ropes around your potions?" Grif asked Liya.
"It helps me recognize the right potions in an intense situation." She told him, "A trick an old adventurer friend of mine taught me."
"That's quite the useful trick."
"Indeed, it was."
"Huh? T-This does not look like a magic potion." Rishia noted when she looked at the potion in question, "The color is all wrong…"
"It's a special concoction I made specifically for mana exhaustion." Liya told her, "One bottle can fully restore one's mana in no time."
"Wait, f-fully restore it!? T-That's amazing!"
"It's still a work in progress, so it still has a few kinks left to work out."
This was the first time she had even heard of a magic potion that completely restores mana; such a thing was unheard of considering how difficult magic potions were to create in the first place.
'To create such a thing… Who exactly is Liya…?'
"Oh god, that one…?" Trish groaned, "Doesn't it also give you uncontrollable gas for the whole day?"
"I've long since fixed that part." Liya told her, "Though it now tastes even worse."
"…alright, give it here."
Her friend uncorked the potion and handed it to her, which she then proceeded to down it all in one long gulp; which she instantly regrets as she choked from the overwhelming taste of the concoction.
"Urah! That's horrible! I've never thought you could make a potion taste THIS bad!"
"Hey, I've warned you that it will taste bad."
"…But I do feel a lot better now. In fact, I feel great!"
"Oh, then it is a success then–"
"And warm! And, a little… light-headed…? And… when did Talos get a twin…? Ooh… this… feels… like…"
"T-Trish!?"
The former noble proceeded to pass out and collapsed onto her friend much to the shock of everyone, her cheeks tinted red as she had the goofy smile while lightly giggling.
"Is… Is she drunk?" Grif pointed out.
"…Liya, what was in that potion?" Theresa asked.
"I… may had included Rucolu Fruit in it…" Liya confessed with a sheepish smile, "I've read that it could restore a lot of mana, so…"
"…doesn't it also kill you if you ingest it raw?" The mercenary noted.
"F-Fueh!?"
"Relax! I've used an extremely diluted version of it!" The apothecary assured her, "I'm not that reckless to use it as it is!"
"Why do I find that hard to believe?" The masked swordswoman noted.
That caused the noble girl to let out a sigh of relief; it was honestly quite scary for her when her former senior collapsed all of the sudden like that.
"Uh, what is going on here? What happened to Trish?"
Rishia nearly jumped out of her boots when the Bow Hero made himself known, his complexion looking better than when she had last seen him as he looked at them with a bewildered expression.
She did notice the slight traces of vomit on his shirt, hinting to her that he had failed to stop himself from throwing up in the end.
"Trish got drunk from an experimental potion." Grif explained.
"Oh… that could happen…?" Itsuki asked, "A-Anyway, is everyone okay?"
"We are fine, Sir Bow Hero." Theresa noted, "All thanks to Lady Rishia and her healing spells."
"O-Oh, my spells aren't t-that impressive…" The noble girl stuttered, "You guys are the i-impressive ones; f-fighting against such a powerful b-beast as the E-Elder Grim Wolf and d-defeating it."
"No, we wouldn't have been able to defeat it without your help, Lady Rishia." Grif stated, "If you hadn't fired a spell at it, we wouldn't be able to lock it down and give Sir Itsuki the chance to kill it. If anything, your spell was pivotal in contributing to our victory."
"Oh, that was your doing?" Liya perked up at the mention of it, "Thanks for that, Miss Ivyred! If you hadn't done that, I may have to deal with more than bruises and a dislocated arm."
"R-Really…?"
"Indeed, Lady Rishia." Theresa told Rishia, "Your action, no matter how small it was, had led us to victory."
She glanced back at the Bow Hero, the young man giving a gentle smile as he nodded, which brought her into high heavens from both the acknowledgement and the swooning smile she had received.
Words could do no justice in describing how happy she was at the compliments she was receiving, the elation of being able to help the Bow Hero.
"…I-I promise to keep up the good work!" The noble girl cried out with a teary smile.
But if she had looked back at her idol right then and there, she would have noticed a glimpse of animosity he was giving her.
…
To be continued…
And done, just in time for Christmas and the end of season 3.
Sorry for taking so long, this chapter took a while to write as I wasn't exactly sure how to go about it and I had a bit of a writer's block on the ending.
Not because I was too busy playing Genshin Impact and Honkai Star Rail. Nope, not them.
…Okay, maybe a little…
Any rate, to those who are reading this at the time I am posting it, have a Merry Christmas!
With that, I thank you all for reading this!
*Sup! So, this is the rewrite of my rewrite of my Shield Hero OC fic. This time, I'm going to make a few changes so that it would be more than just a Canon rehash.