Given the small dock at the resort was not quite large enough for any of the vessels in the bay to actually approach, we were soon greeted by the sight of the King, Queen, Rishia, and Spear Hero descending into the water in a smaller boat, along with Ray and Lucia doing the same from one of the other vessels. The…I wanted to say lifeboats but probably dinghies were the right word, soon came up to the dock, and with some help, the people climbed out.
"Your majesties, I would say I'm honored to have you standing again on this land, but given the circumstances, I will instead say I'm glad you're here," said the Count, bowing deeply towards the King and Queen, even as the Princess rushed up to them and hugged them both. Meanwhile, Lucia leapt off her own boat, and did the same to me, nearly dragged me down with how strong she was, as Ray, being a bit less forceful, walked up to my side instead.
"No injuries, no loping gait, and he stands straight. Looks like he managed not to get hurt without us this time," she said looking more over, and making me growl at her in frustration, even as the others got a good laugh at my expense.
"You didn't happen to find another Vassal Weapon while you were off again, did you? We could probably use it, given the way this town looks," commented Motoyasu as he helped Rishia onto the dock and they looked around, seeing a few more ruins in the area than had been there previously.
"Unfortunately not, but since we're all here, let's go into the dock house and I'll lay out my plan," I said, and with that, we all went inside, with me having the Count pull a map off the wall and laying it out onto the table nearby. Luckily, this dock house, used to keep track of ships in the water, had a few carved models of ships, and I laid them out on the map to help illustrate exactly what my idea was.
"How many soldiers do we have with us?" I asked, looking towards the group of newcomers.
"We were able to assemble around fifty level twenty or so magic users, and about fifteen above the level cap, along with around one hundred total ranged users, archers and some more exotics, all with levels between ten and sixty," said Ray, which had me impressed, as those magic users must have been quite good at their jobs to have levels above the first cap. The others were a bit more mixed, and the fact that she didn't call them out probably meant fewer were in the higher range.
"As for the Royal Guard, we assembled sixty of our best, with twenty-seven magic users of levels ranging from twenty-eight to fifty-seven, weighted towards the middle. We have forty-nine archer types, as few in the Guard use exotic weapon types," said the Queen.
"Additionally we brought fifty-two of our finest men, including Ake Squad that Ser Naofumi knows personally, to help secure the town. They should already be coming over in the landing ships now," added the King, which had me nodding as I went over the figures in my head, thinking that, given how they acted, it was probable that the Guild's warriors were equally divided amongst the three ships, while the Royal Guards were on the one flying their flag.
"Good, hopefully this works out. Naofumi, how many potions do you have with an MP recovery effect? The good ones that restore all of them, if you have any?" I asked, and he opened his cloak, and pulled at some pockets that had been sewn into it, counting out, before holding up both hands with fingers up, signalling seven.
"Alright, that will do. Give myself and Lucia one each, as if this works, we'll need them. For the remainder, if you're willing, give one to King Aultcray and one each to Motoyasu, Ren, Welts, and Rishia. If this doesn't work, they might need them," I said as I counted out some odds in my head, while realizing that left him with none. Rather than argue or otherwise belabor the point, he opened the straps holding them in place, and passed them out to the others without the slightest hesitation.
"Right now, the first idea I have is simple, we're going to be on those ships, one Hero Party on each, so that when the effect of the transportation magic takes over, it will take them as well," I said, causing the Royals, as well as some of the party members to balk at that.
"I…there is no mention of the transport including entire vessels in their energies. Are you certain it will work?" asked Aultcray, and at that, I nodded.
"The magic seems to include whatever we're sitting on coming with us if it's mobile. That's how it worked during the Soul Eater Wave when Naofumi had a cart loaded with potions, and it was brought with him," I noted, turning to the Shield Hero.
"Yeah, I was kind of not sure it would work myself, but figured if it had failed, I'd still have the stuff on me, and the Capital could pay me back for stuff I left behind if it got stolen," he said, eyeing King Aultcray, who said nothing at the obvious jab about how that last bit would certainly not have happened had he been robbed while we were busy dealing with the problem. I moved past it, however.
"So I'm working on the basis that that magic sees the vehicles we're in as part of our 'Party' when it transports us. Since it brought Naofumi's potions with him, I hope that means anything being transported on those vehicles will likewise be included. If so, that will mean everyone on board will be with us, and we'll have far more firepower to bring against this problem," I laid out, moving the four ship pieces together into a random part of the ocean.
"I want everyone wearing water walking rings just in case, either we wind up on the ocean surface, or those we leave behind do. But, working on the assumption that everything is brought with us, my first plan is pretty much reliant on the mages for the first part, and everyone else for the second," I began.
"Motoyasu and myself have experience with only a single 'Boss' level enemy in the open ocean, that being a horned whale like creature. We're hoping that, given the prior two bosses we've encountered fit with our experiences in our worlds, this will be the same. If it is, then the Whale will be vulnerable to Darkness more than any other element, and will have the ability to store magic in its horn which is why we brought ranged fighters as well," I explain, pulling a token from the shop's shelves to represent the beast.
"When the transport happens, we'll be far away, but given my (Blink) skill, I'll be able to transport the ships and all the crews right beneath the big hole in the sky, which will allow us to limit the Boss' options in combat," I start, and the Queen looks concerned as she looks from the token in between the four ships, to myself.
"Are you certain you can withstand the strain? I'll admit, my reports are vague, but utilizing your powers has exhausted you before. To the point of passing out even. What if you expire?" she asked, concern in her voice, and in more than one gaze being directed my way. Less concern and more anger from Lucia and Ray though, who seemed less than pleased my plan might end my life, but I shook my head.
"I got to test that out during the defense here. It's not pleasant, but I can go more than one-hundred percent into the red with my magic, and all it does is make me feel bad for a while. I wouldn't want to test exhausting MP and SP together at this time, but for now, doing it to one just causes me to get tired, and Naofumi's potion can mitigate that," I said, holding up the bottle the Shield Hero had passed me. That seemed to mollify everyone as I returned to the map.
"Once we're in position, around the landing zone, I'll take the potion and use (Void Gaze) to predict where the thing will land. Since I don't think I can send that to everyone, I'll have Lucia by my side, and have her strike a piece of the ocean with her magic," I said, turning towards her.
"What kind of Ice-aspected magic can you do, with either the Replica Weapon or your own skills?" I asked, and she took a moment to consider, before pulling out the aforementioned weapon and shifting it into a cold looking bow.
"Hmm…if it's simply to mark the place, an ice arrow should do the trick," she said.
"It needs to be as strong as you can make it, but yeah, it's mostly a marker, as I want every mage who's skilled at any kind of ice magic, and even those that aren't, to cast at the ocean's surface. If we can, I'm hoping to create a shelf of ice at least a few meters thick that links all four ships, allowing the other three Heroes to walk on it," I explain, pointing at each ship in turn.
"If it's stable, the ranged fighters, and mages that have enough magic should join them on the ice, but let the Heroes and their Champions do the melee fighting, while they pepper the thing with strikes from a distance. If I remember correctly, this boss had a lot of health in the game, and we need to kill it as soon as possible," I continued, looking at the formation on the table, and imagining how it would go.
"This is…a unique situation. This has been like an extended Wave event so far, and the other timer is still counting down, right?" I asked, and the other Heroes stood still for a moment, their eyes flickering, before nodding.
"Twenty-seven minutes and some change for that one, the other still has a bit over two weeks," said Motoyasu, making me realize I had to speed up my debrief.
"Okay, to briefly go over it, if the ships don't come with us, or I can't teleport them when we get there, we'll use the water walk and breathing rings to fight the whale in the water after I bring the Heroes and our Champtions to it. If it is that you guys didn't come at all, get to shore and bunker down with everyone, as it could be some time before we kill the monster," I say, looking towards the Royals.
"If you do come with us, but have to be left behind, try to fight your way to us, but don't overextend. If the Wave like event gets too taxing, then pull the ships together and cover each other. We'll deal with the Boss on our own," I tell them, and no one seems fit to argue. We then go over a few specific positions for people. Motoyasu, Ren, and I would be on the Guild ships, while Naofumi would ride with the Royals.
The latter was a 'just in case' sort of thing, as the Royals were important for the nation, and despite our levels, King Aultcray was still the most powerful DPS we had, as he held the Vassal Staff, and had all his spells at the ready to assist us. With him helping to bolster their defense, as well as Princess Melty and Queen Mirellia's magic, that ship would be the safest of the four of us.
The rest of the forces were mostly evenly distributed, and as the ten minute mark came, I broke the meeting, with us departing outside, where the duo of L'arc and Therese were waiting for us, along with a few adventurers who insisted on coming along, given they had heard we needed ranged fighters, and they'd more than shown their ability to fight in the defense of the city against the monsters.
It took almost five minutes to get everyone sorted, with Therese insisting on coming with me, saying that she recognizes my person as the most vulnerable, and given her magic could apparently heal Heroes, she'd be able to keep me in good health if something unexpected happened. Having little time to argue, and Naofumi backing her up, we soon got aboard the ship, even leaving the smaller boat behind as I climbed onto the deck.
We were just getting into position, passing out rings of water walking and breathing to the people aboard ship, when a chime went off in my head. I ordered everyone to brace, and even grabbed a nearby railing myself, as the sky overhead suddenly started to get brighter, the dull red glow that had filled it over the night suddenly turning bloody crimson instead, even as golden light seemed to come up from beneath us, standing against the awful light with a glorious counterpoint.