Chapter 19: Unforeseen
Morning of a new day dawned upon us as we gathered with the other Heroes and their party, weapons ready to be drawn in a moment's notice as we waited with bated breaths for the Wave of Calamity to strike once more.
Among the ones that had not experienced it before, Rishia was definitely the most nervous and the most anxious; the poor girl's knees were shaking pretty badly to the point that she looked to be a few steps away from collapsing from her nerves alone.
If you hear closely, small sounds of 'Fueh' could be heard coming out of her quivering lips.
Grif, on the other hand, was the complete opposite and appeared to be as calm as he ever was; though that could be due to the fact that his face was still hidden away behind that helmet of his and he was actually just as nervous as everyone else.
His mount, however, was restless as the massive griffin paced around its tamer nervously, unable to remain still for even a moment as it let out a cry every so often.
As for Eclair…
"You feeling alright?" I asked the former knight.
"Y-Yeah…!" She nodded with a smile, "I'm just a little anxious, that's all…!"
While I couldn't make out her eyes due to that abomination of a mask, I could see her her hand gripping the sheath of her sword so tightly that I could make out her knuckles under her skin; a familiar tell of hers whenever she tried to hide how scared she actually was.
It was only natural, considering that this was her first time facing the disaster that resulted in the death of her father months ago.
"Take a deep breath and calm yourself; it would do you no good to wound yourself up too tightly."
"I…I am well aware…!" She took a deep breath like I'd suggested, and loosening the grip around the sheath in the process, "Thanks for that."
"Anytime."
"Just a minute left." Itsuki stated, "Everyone, prepare yourself."
"We are ever ready on your command, Sir Bow Hero."
Also with us was a platoon of fully armed knights, specifically the nineteen platoon of the Royal Army led by Linden Draken from a month ago; the captain was more than happy to fight alongside us once more.
As for why we had knights among us, it was due to the Battle Formation the Shield Hero had informed the Bow Hero days prior; the one he had used on the soldiers that earned his trust.
It was a unique ability the Cardinal Heroes had that allowed them to appoint a leader from a small platoon and make a party with that person subject to the Hero's leadership; this made it so that the whole platoon was part of the party as well.
This allowed the knights to come along with us when we were transported to the Wave's location; which would make protecting any villages nearby a lot easier.
Itsuki had actually sent a request for a platoon of knights the day after he learnt of this, just before the emergency request on Lukwad came in; Linden had only just arrived this morning too.
Of course, he had told the Sword Hero about this last night over dinner and asked him to do the same, but he didn't believe that such an ability exist and refused to give it try; the same could be said on the Spear Hero, the blonde casanova even outright calling him a liar.
"Here it comes!"
As if reacting to the Spear Hero's proclamation, the familiar sound of shattering glass echoed in our ears as our surroundings changed in a flash of blinding light.
The brick roads and buildings turned into the rough terrains and wooden huts of a rural mountain village, the blue sky had been dyed in the ever familiar tint of red; and a second later, a massive crack tore itself open through the very sky, and otherworldly monsters began pouring out of it by droves.
It was the Wave of Calamity, and it had struck close to a village yet again.
"This is… the Wave of Calamity…" Grif muttered in shock.
"Fueh…! How terrifying…!" Rishia stuttered out.
"Shit! It spawn near to a village again! Itsuki, stick to the old plan!"
"Got it! Liya, Theresa; with me! The rest of you, defend the village!"
"As you command! Men! Draw your swords!"
Following the Sword Hero's lead in separating his party like during the last Wave of Calamity, Itsuki also split us up as he ran after the other Heroes with me and Eclair following close behind, while the rest of both parties joined up with the knights and made their way towards the village.
Though we didn't go very far when the Spear Hero was suddenly sent flying and crashing into the princess and his entourage of ladies, causing them all to tumble all over each other; too bad Trish couldn't see this, she would have laughed her head off.
The culprit of this comical scene was that of the Shield Hero's filolial queen Filo, the plump bird puffing out her chest with pride as her master alighting the cart she was pulling as Raphtalia peeked out from behind the curtain, just the soldiers from several days ago pulled up to us in a cart of their own.
"N-Naofumi!? What are you doing!?" The Spear Hero shouted after untangling himself from his party.
"That's what I want know, you idiot!" The Shield Hero shouted, "Where are your knights!?"
"The knights? They'll be coming later!"
"What—did Itsuki not tell you guys about the Battle Formation function!?"
"Hah! You mean the thing you made up? I don't know what kind of trick you pulled to make him believe you, but it will not work on me."
"Trick!? Are you really that stupid!?"
"If you are done, can please get out of the way!?" The Sword Hero shouted in annoyance, "We need to hurry and close up that rift!"
Naofumi gave him a glare so cold that he might be able to freeze people with it, getting him to take a step back from him out of fright.
"I need you guys to listen to me first." He told them with a controlled tone, "As you know, I can't attack, so the best I could do is protect the neighboring village. So that's my job in this, do you all understand?"
"That's understandable." The Bow Hero nodded.
"It is the task of the Shielder." The Sword Hero noted.
"And you dare call yourself a Hero…" The Spear Hero scoffed.
The Shield Hero rolled his eyes in annoyance at the degrading comment before continuing, "Ren, Itsuki, Motoyasu, your job is to take out the monsters coming out of that rift and close it up; it is linked to the Boss Monster, right?"
"That's right." The Sword Hero nodded, "Kill the Boss, the rift close up, the Wave ends."
"Right. But you have to understand that my job is just as important, right?"
"What?"
"Huh?"
The Sword Hero gave the Shield Hero a look that just screams confusion; even though he had already spelled everything out very clearly for him.
Even if I had no idea what he was talking about exactly, considering all the otherworldly words and phrases they were using.
"Wait, have any of you guys ever been in a Guild War before!?" He cried out, "Or have any experience managing a large Guild!?"
"I have no interest in such things." The Sword Hero stated.
"I wasn't into MMOs, so…" Itsuki noted.
"Look, who cares about that right now!" The Spear Hero cried out, "We still have a Wave to take care of!"
"Oh, for the love of…!" The Shield Hero let out a huge sigh, "We'll just have to make do with what we have… but you guys have to link up with the knights for the next one!"
"Whatever, just get out of the way!"
The Spear Hero shoved him aside as he ran towards the crack, the rest of us quickly followed after him while the Shield Hero headed towards the village with his party of Raphtalia and Filo alongside the young soldiers.
The otherworldly monsters this time were large black birds, black wolves, black sword-wielding lizard beastmen, and small, black-skinned humanoids the size of children; a way better lineup compared to the walking corpses of previous Wave.
They were still quite the odd bunch, as many of them actually dissipated into dark mist the moment they were killed; it was like they were ghosts rather than actual living monsters.
The thought freaked Trish out a little as she released a barrage of shadow arrows at the large black birds charging straight at them, piercing and killing all of them with swift precision.
Meanwhile the defense line held by the nineteenth platoon met the charging lizard beastmen in melee combat, the knights standing strong behind their shields against the armed monsters as their blades clashed with the opposing forces' with trained swings which spoke volumes to their dedication to their training.
Covering their flanks were the unlucky adventurers that had been staying in the village when the Wave happened, a wild variety of weapons from swords to spears to axes slashing away at the monsters.
"R-Right this w-way! In a s-steady manner!"
"Keep calm! The knights will protect you!"
Meanwhile, Rishia and the other adventurers helped evacuate the villagers from the battlefield as Grif and Talos covered them in the rear as the two easily tore apart whatever monster that crept up to them with sharp claws and even sharper halberd.
With every possible angle covered by combatants, it should by all accounts have been an airtight defense formation; one that would defend against monsters of any kind without fail.
Until they failed to take into account the adventurers that weren't as experienced with such a formation.
"Wauff!"
"Shit, defense breach!"
Slipping past the adventurers, the pack of small humanoids as dark as the shadows themselves made a run towards the unarmed and very vulnerable civilians.
Rishia quickly began chanting as the adventurers drew their arms and prepared themselves for the interdimensional creatures, the armored warrior from the Sword Hero's party, Welt took it upon himself to take the lead with his massive shield as the monsters pounced upon him with their claws ready to tear into him with fervor.
"Hiya!"
Only for them to get wiped out by an old lady and her trusty hoe; the farming tool being swung about in one hand and tore through the otherworldly monsters with absolute ease.
Trish could only gawk at a surreal sight, considering that old lady looked to at least be as old as Liya's grandfather if not older, and yet she had easily killed monsters that she should have trouble fighting in the first place.
"Hey!" The old lady called out to them, "Are you young whippersnappers just going to leave the fight to an old lady like me!? Or are you going to fight like the tough adventurers you are!?"
"…you don't have to tell us twice, old timer!"
That got the adventurers riled up and morale shot through the roof, the ones not guarding the flanks joining in and tightening up the formation even more, while those with long ranged weaponry assisted with Trish in fending off the avian monsters.
The knights weren't unaffected by the morale boost either, their captain gave the order to charge forward and met the lizard monsters head on, smashing their shields into them before swinging their swords and cutting their heads off.
Trish and the others from both the Bow Hero's party and the Sword Hero's party followed suit, she and the mage Farrie started chanting spell after spell in quick succession while Grif and Welt leap into action in slaying each monster that dared approach the villagers alongside the old lady and her hoe.
"You fought well for someone your age, old timer!" Grif commented.
"Haha! I have you know that I was quite the adventurer back in the day!" She laughed heartily.
The increased vigor worked in their favor as they pushed back against the hordes of otherworldly beings; but the Wave of Calamity would not be the world-ending disaster that it was if normal people could fight it back.
For the endless monster attacks soon began to wear them down, Trish already feeling quite sore in the throat the endless chanting and was downing her third magic potion; while her fellow mage downed her fourth.
And she wasn't the only one that was feeling the exhaustion either, with many of the knights' swings began to sway as their movements became sloppier with time; so were the adventurers after the initial rush finally wore down.
'This is getting us nowhere… at this rate, we'll get overrun before the Wave ends…! The only reason we are still barely holding on is…'
"Hiya! Wuatah!"
Her gaze went to the old lady that riled up the adventurers moments ago, her hoe swinging and tearing into monsters like she was working the fields.
It was clear she was not the usual old village women the former noble was used to; her footwork spoke of experience in combat and her attacks were precise and discipline with no wasted movements in any shape of form.
It reminded her of Culann and his insane mastery of his spear; veteran warriors who had fought and survived through countless battles and trained their skill set to near perfection.
"Hey! What's that over there!"
"I-It's huge!"
The commotion from the front lines got everyone's attention as most of them started panicking at what was heading straight towards them.
Towering over its fellow beastmen monsters by double their normal height was one particular large lizard monster, wielding a giant sword as large and wide as Talos as it stomped up to them; the ground around it to tremble with each step it took.
While not as large as the legendary Elder Grim Wolf, its sheer size intimidated anyone that even glanced at its general location, with some of the adventurers already looking for a chance to run.
"P-Phalanx formation! Brace!"
Linden gave the command as he and his platoon overlapped their shields together into a partial dome with him at the center; they held their ground as the monster pulled back its sword and swung into them like it was a club.
The attack easily overpowered their formation, breaking through their shields and sending them flying from the force behind the strike; their captain in particular having broken his arm upon impact.
"T-The defense line is down!"
"Not good! Not good!"
"R-Run!"
Several adventurers immediately attempted to flee the moment the knights were battered away, and most of them ended up not getting very far before getting jumped and devoured by the monsters of the Wave.
At the same time, monsters around it took the opportunity to rush in through the opening it created and charged at the villagers; Grif and Welt quickly got in their way and fend off the monsters in their stead.
Many that were covering the flank quickly fell back towards the villagers, helping the knights up as they did so before attempting to form another line of defense around Grif and Welt; they nearly lost their lives to the monsters in the process if the old lady hadn't saved them in time.
"Keep your wits on you, whippersnappers!" She shouted at them, "Unless you wish to end up like those fools from before!"
"R-Right! We have to keep it together—"
Just as they started to form up a proper defense, the large lizard beastman from before stood in front of them, its arm pulling back like it had done moments prior.
The adventurers that wielded bows unloaded arrows into its body in an attempt to stop it, with one adventurer even going as far as throwing his massive axe into it; all the while Trish and her fellow magic users quickly started chanting their strongest spells to kill it.
But it was of no use, as the large lizard monster simply shrugged off all the projectiles it had been struck by with a brief brush; its arm muscle visibly tensed and it swung its sword at them before any magic spells could be cast in defense.
"Air Strike Shield!"
An ethereal green shield formed in front of it and blocked the attack mid swing with a loud defense-repelling clunk.
It was quickly followed up by a familiar racoon demi-human stabbing her sword into its gut, before a giant fluffy filolial swung its metal fitted talons into its head, cleaving part of it clean off and sending it spinning into the air.
"W-What in the…!?"
"Did that bird just kick its head off…!?"
As the beast men's body collapsed onto the ground, the Shield Hero walked up to them in his recognisable bandit-esque armor with half a dozen soldiers following close behind; he immediately commanded them to get the injured onto a cart.
"Oh! Holy Saint!" The old lady greeted with a bow, "Your help is greatly appreciated as always!"
"Holy Saint?" Grif turned to her in confusion, "Is that not the Shield Hero?"
"No, no! That man there is the Holy Saint of the Heavenly Fowl whom I owe my life! Not the wretched Shield Hero!"
Trish had recalled hearing that title before; rumors had been floating around about a peddler riding upon a mythical bird traveling across the kingdom while selling various medical supplies to the downtrodden.
'That filolial of his does have an air of mystic to it when it is not talking… and Liya has sold him a few potion recipes the last time we met…'
She glanced at the filolial in question Filo, who was getting held back from attacking Talos by the racoon demi-human slave Raphtalia, while said griffin too was getting held back from attacking the bird by Grif.
It was comical scene ill fitting for the dire situation of the present, but a comical scene nonetheless.
"What the…!? Aren't you that old lady!?" The Shield Hero cried out, "What are you doing here!? Hurry and evacuate!"
"There's no need for concern, Holy Saint." The old lady swung her hoe and destroyed several monsters that had snuck up on them in an instant, "Thanks to you, I am in tip-top shape! In fact I've never felt better!"
"…what kind of medicine did I give you…?"
"How knows? But it worked wonders!"
The Shield Hero let out a low groan at her response, clearly wasn't expecting the old lady to be energetic, or deadly skilled in slaying monsters.
"Questions for another time…" He then turned to the soldiers he had brought with him, "Once all the injured are onboard, we are heading for the next town!"
"Please allow us to assist you in your efforts, Sir Shield Hero."
Trish's words got a suspicious stare from the disgraced Hero, "You're… one of Itsuki's party…?"
"Indeed; my name is Trish Circe." She greeted him with a small curtsy, "Sir Itsuki has tasked me and my colleagues in defending the villages. Since we have the same goals, wouldn't it be wise for us to join forces?"
"…guess Itsuki knows his priorities at least…" He mumbled before turning to her, "Come with us if you wish, but be aware that I can't defend everyone."
"We are well aware." She nodded, "Do not worry, we won't hold you back."
After helping the villagers get onto the carts the Shield Hero brought with him, along with the injured adventurers that couldn't walk, they all swiftly rode off towards the nearby village; Talos having trouble keeping up with the speeds the filolial Filo was putting out.
It only took mere moments for them all to reach the next village, though with a side effect of most if not all the carts' passengers getting a bad case of motion sickness.
Its state was a lot worse than the one they were just in, with most of its buildings destroyed or on fire; it didn't take long for them to began evacuating its residents away from the fight.
In no time at all, they had formed a perimeter around a makeshift shelter that housed all the villagers that had evacuated from both village as well as the temporary medic station to heal the injured.
"To arms, my brothers!" Linden cried out while waving his sword with his unbroken arm, "We must not let our juniors handle everything! Show them the pride of the nineteenth platoon of the Royal Army!"
"Yes, sir!"
"Us mages will provide support! All Zweite Wind Speed!"
"All Zwiete Flame Power!"
"All Zweite Earth Guard!"
"All Zwiete Light Protection!"
The soldiers and knights swiftly forming a combined defense formation in front of the evacuated villagers with the Shield Hero at the forefront of it all, they held their ground in for a battle of attrition while the mages in the group cast spells to boost their bodies.
The adventurers that could still moved or had been healed by the healers charged into the fray and began slaughtering monster left and right, with Talos killing the most in the griffin's annoyance-filled rampage.
Compared to what happened prior, they had a much better and easier time holding back the monsters; mostly due to the addition of the Shield Hero and his fortress-level defensive capabilities.
It was quite the sight for Trish, seeing the ever scowling man blocking attacks with ease and deploying his Skills against the monsters at various points, ethereal shields and spheres of chains and shield popping up to defend the knights and adventurers in dire need of one.
It wasn't as flashy or destructive as the Bow Hero's, but it was nonetheless as impressive if not more; the way he skilfully deployed his Skills and how he held the enemy in place long enough for Filo or Raphtalia to kill it was unlike how any of the other Heroes used theirs.
'I don't get why the other Heroes seemed to look down on him… it took guts to stand in front of an attack, let alone to block it without hurting yourself… if anything, they are the ones less skilled with their respective weapons…'
The Bow Hero's insane curving shots aside, both the Spear and Sword Heroes display an absolute lacking in technique when they fought during the previous Wave, with only the younger of the two wielding his weapon with some level of skill.
The blonde Casanova was a completely different story, his attacks had too many wasted movements in even the most foundational strike of thrusting.
Compared to them, the Shield Hero might as well as a master.
Her inner praise of the Shield Hero was left unsaid as time went on, the battle soon stretched from minutes to hours; with the Wave not looking to be stopping any time soon.
It reminded her of the first Wave in Lurolana Village where Liya, Arjun and her fought back against the skeleton monsters for just as long if not longer before the skies turned back to blue.
On the bright side, she had managed to raise her level at least a couple of times from all the monsters we were killing; even Rishia managed to gain a level.
"Damn it, they are taking too long!" The Shield Hero growled, "It didn't take this long last time!"
"Shield Hero! Please leave defending the village to us!" The leader of the soldiers told him, "You should go and help out the other Heroes!"
"I don't think I can do much to help them in any way…"
"No, I do not believe that to be the case." Trish told him, "It is said that it takes all FOUR Heroes to fend off the Waves. If anything, you are required to be with them to end it."
There was a reason why there were FOUR Cardinal Heroes in the first place, despite what those from the Three Heroes Church(Cult) wanted everyone to believe.
"…Can you handle it?" The Shield Hero asked the soldier.
"Leave it to me!" The soldier nodded.
"All right; then I'll go see what's going on with them. I leave the village to you."
"Yes, sir!"
As the Shield Hero took off with his two companions, Linden turned to Trish, "Miss Trish, I believe you and your comrades should help out the Heroes as well; they might be in need the full assistance of their parties."
The captain made a valid point; they might in need of every help they could get if they were taking this long to take down the rift monsters' leader.
She looked over to Grif and Rishia, her close friend and the mercenary nodded with understanding at what her decision ultimately was.
"Alright then… Farrie, Welt! You guys coming?"
"Of course!"
"If Sir Ren is need of assistance…!"
With their approval, Grif had Talos lower itself to allow them all to climb onto its back; then with a flap of its wings, it took to the skies and flew after the Shield Hero, an frustrated cry left its beaks as it tried to catch up to them.
I swung Chain Sword and struck down another black tiny humanoid, its body dropping onto the ground before slowly dissipating into shadowy mist; by my count, that had to be my hundredth kill since the start of the Wave.
At around the same time, Eclair parried a lizard beast man's saber before slitting its throat open in one smooth slice; it choked on its blood for an instant before collapsing and joining the pile of monster bodies under our feet.
"Oh, hey; we leveled up again." I noted, "That makes it the second time now."
"Great, at least we gained something out of this." Eclair noted with a tired sigh.
"Damn it! Why isn't this working!? Thunder Arrow!"
Another electric-infused arrow flew through the mist and up into the sky, slamming into the hole-ridden hull of the ghost ship floating in the sky; blasting a massive hole through it that quickly repaired itself within seconds.
Meanwhile, sparks and arcs of light flashed from atop its deck originating from the other two Heroes firing their respective Skills at their chosen target; neither of them seemed to have succeeded in eliminating them.
All of this had been going on for hours now, and with no change to anything aside from slowly driving the Heroes insane from the lack of results; and I was on the verge of losing all my patience..
"Sir Itsuki! You have been shooting that ship for hours!" I shouted at him, "I don't think it is working!"
"No! It has to work!" He cried out, "I am not the one that's wrong!"
I could barely hold back a growl from escaping through my teeth at his answer; as well as the urge to just slap him in the back of the head before throwing him aboard the ship itself.
All of this started just because the three Heroes couldn't agree on what they needed to kill to end the Wave.
The Sword Hero said it was the giant squid that had its tentacles wrapped around the ship, the Spear Hero said it was the ship's undead captain, the Bow Hero said it was the ship itself; and each of them was absolutely sure that their choice was the right one.
Unable to come to an agreement, they decided on attacking the one that they believed was the real Boss Monster and went their separate ways; with us remaining down in the misty forest while the others climbed aboard the ship.
Again and again, Itsuki fired powerful shot after powerful shot into the ship for the past several hours with the same results every time. Yet not even once had he even thought about changing his approach, or even considered if he was entirely wrong about it.
So me and Eclair were stuck defending him against the other otherworldly monsters while he stubbornly attacked the ship to no end.
"Shit! Move!"
I wrapped Chain Sword's chains around Itsuki and pulled him aside, just as a large cannon ball smashed down into where he was just standing, leaving nothing but a crater of wet dirt in its wake.
Looked like the ship had it with the Bow Hero's relentless attacks on it and decided to strike back for once.
"Sir Itsuki! This isn't working!" I told him, "We need to find another way!"
"No! This has to work!" He shouted as he aimed back at the ship, "Those two aren't right about this!"
"No one cares if you are right or wrong! Longer this Wave is active, more people are going to die to its monsters!"
"I-I am aware! That's why I'm trying to kill it!"
God, how stubborn was he!?
"Look out!" Eclair then suddenly shouted, "Another incoming!"
"Seriously!?"
All of us got to running as a barrage of cannonballs fired down from the ship and smashed into the ground all around us, throwing us off our feet as we tumbled to the ground from the ground shaking from the impact
That left us wide open as the ship's cannons aimed straight at us, a loud crack and smoke came out of them moments later as a large lead ball flew straight towards us.
"Air Strike Shield!"
A familiar looking ethereal green shield appeared in front of us that blocked the cannon ball with a loud defense warding clank, that was then kicked away by the fluffy filolial queen that was Filo.
Said bird landed in front of us with a loud thud with her master and his companion riding on its back; the Shield Hero frown got even deeper than I thought was possible as he glared at Itsuki.
"How long are you guys planning to take!?"
"N-Naofumi…!? What are you doing here!? I thought you said you weren't going to fight!"
"I wasn't, until you guys decided to take your sweet time!" He shouted at him, "We have already evacuated the villagers a long time ago, so I came to check why are you guys taking so long to kill the damn Boss!"
"I told them that we need to destroy the ship first, but Ren and Motoyasu thought otherwise and boarded it!" Itsuki shouted back.
"What—Seriously!? At a time like this, you guys couldn't agree on what to take out!? I thought you guys know all that is to know about the Waves from your games!?"
"It was the same in Dimension Wave!"
"You…!" The Shield Hero let out a loud sigh, "Even then, you can't just keep spamming your Skills at it and expect things to change! Look for another angle! Maybe there's a weak point inside the ship to destroy it?"
"But that wasn't in—"
"Forget about that game of yours! This is real life! Not some scenario programmed in code!"
That gave Itsuki pause as he actually pondered the implications of what the Shield Hero had told him; the disgraced Hero turned away with a huff before commanding Filo to leap up onto the ship, creating astral shields for her to use as stepping stones.
"…"
"Sir Itsuki." I walked up to him, "I cannot claim to understand everything that you and the Shield Hero had said, but I do know that what you are doing now isn't working as well as you think it is."
Honestly, I had absolutely no idea what any of the words the two Cardinal Heroes had exchanged with each other meant, but the overall message was very clear: look for another way to end it.
"Liya's right; this isn't working." Eclair added in, "We need another plan of attack to stop the Wave."
"…of course I know that…" He muttered as he looked at me, "This isn't the Dimension Wave I know… it's…"
"…Sir Itsuki?"
"Right! New plan!" He declared with a grin, "Let's climb aboard that ship and see if there's a weak point to exploit!"
""…understood!"" Eclair and I nodded in agreement.
A crude and honestly half-baked plan of attack, but at least it was a different direction from blasting powerful projectiles at it until it dies.
"Sir Itsuki!"
"Kahh!"
At the same time, Talos descended down in front of us with the rest of our party as well as the other half of the Sword Hero's; the griffin looked really exhausted and yet frustrated at the same.
It must have flown as fast as it could to catch up with Filo and ended up tiring itself out in the process.
"You guys arrived just in time!" The Bow Hero stated, "Grif, we are heading up to that ship!"
"O-Oh, alright; but Talos is exhausted, so he couldn't fly just yet."
"Ah, got it. Then we'll head up after it has rested up."
"Grr…!"
Everyone hopped off the griffin and immediately drew their respective weapons, just as a horde of monsters in a mix of every otherworldly species came running out towards us, as if sensing that we were grounded for the time being.
Grif and Welt swiftly took to the vanguard role and held down against the horde's leading monsters, as echoes of their blades clashing with the lizard beastmen's swords rang out across the field.
Eclair and I followed suit and covered their flank as we struck down any monster that got past the two, my chain whip swinging around me in a vortex of sharp blades that slashed into any monster that got too close while the former knight formed a whirlwind of steel of her own with her sword.
The rest of the party took to supporting us at the rear as spells of various types and strength were unleashed onto the horde from behind us, mixed in with the many astral arrows of the Bow Hero's making.
It didn't take long for the entire horde to be wiped out by our combined might; it was honestly quite a sight to behold with how quickly the monsters were taken out.
"How's Talos?" Itsuki asked.
The mercenary rubbed his mount's neck and the griffin gave a tired but determined cry, "Still tired, but it recovered enough stamina to carry us to the ship."
"Great! Let's be off!"
It was a tight squeeze on the flying monster's back, a couple of us were left clinging onto its sides by its feathers when we took off into the sky towards the floating ship.
It was a slow climb, due to the extra weight of another two people with one wearing the same kind of heavy plate armor as Grif, but the griffin still pushed itself to fly higher and higher.
By the time we reach the boat's deck, Talos collapsed onto its rotting planks as we quickly got off of its back; the tamed monster letting out gasps of air and clearly drained of every stamina it had recovered moments prior.
"You did great, girl." Grif rubbed his hand on the griffin's head, "Have a good rest; leave the rest to us."
"Kaaahhh…"
The deck of the ghost ship wasn't as crowded as I thought it would be, with the only occupants being the Heroes and their respective parties.
"Shooting Star Spear!"
With his entourage of cheerleaders watching, the Spear Hero fought off the tentacles of the giant squid that had jaws for some odd reason, before dealing them the killing blow with a barrage of glowing spears that flew out of his weapon and tore right through the appendages.
It did not stay dead, as the wounds quickly closed up and they regained their vitality before striking back at the blonde Casanova who quickly avoided their jaws before attacking them again.
Meanwhile, the Sword Hero worked with his remaining two comrades to face down against a skeleton monster like the ones from the first Wave; only this one was wearing weathered clothes befitting a ship captain and was swinging about a cutlass.
"Now, Sir Ren!"
"Shooting Star Sword!"
Said cutlass was quickly parried aside by the party's fighter, which opened up the monster for their leader to strike with his Skill; his weapon's blade flashing bright before firing out what could be described as falling stars into the skeleton monster.
The attack slammed right through its body, breaking the bones and causing the monster to collapse into a pile of bones on the rotting planks. And moments later, like the tentacles and the ship itself, the broken bones fixed itself up as the skeleton rose up from the dead.
All of this happened while the Shield Hero was observing from the ship's helm with his two companions; his scowl seemingly darkened whenever any of the Heroes killed their chosen monster only for said monster to rise from the dead moments later.
It was very clear he was not happy with the current state of things, which was to be expected considering that this must have been happening for hours now.
"Huh? Itsuki, so you're here too?" The Spear Hero noted with a smug grin, "Finally willing to admit you're wrong, are you?"
"As if! I'm just looking for another angle to take it down!" Itsuki told the blonde Casanova.
"Hey, there's no shame in admitting defeat. Just help me take out the Kraken and summon the Soul Eater!"
"And I've kept telling you that we have to destroy the ship to do that!"
I let out a groan at the start of another argument for the right thing to destroy, Trish sharing a vexed look with me in response to seeing the Heroes acting like children in the courtyard.
"U-Um… excuse me…" Rishia raised her hand as she stated, "Is it j-just me, or are the s-shadows kind of o-odd?"
Taking a closer look at the shadows onboard the ship, I noticed the oddity she was mentioning; the shadows weren't moving in the right directions and even wobbled even when they shouldn't be, like they were alive somehow.
In fact, there were even what seemed to be faces within the shadows themselves; was what the Heroes looking to lure out in them?
In that case…
"I am the source of all power, heed my command; shine brightly and blind my opponents! First Light!"
An orb of light sprung forth from my hand as it flew high into the air, illuminating down on the whole deck like it was a miniature sun.
The shadows all flinched at the sudden light as the faces within them became more apparent, to the point I could see the grins on them.
I immediately swung Chain Sword and sent the chain whip slashing into the shadow closest to me, a loud shriek echoed out from within moments later as some kind ghost-like fish with sharp teeth flew out of it.
"The shadows…! It's in the shadows! Aim for the shadows!"
"So that's where they are hiding!"
Hearing my declaration, everyone launched themselves at the shadows around them and struck into them with their respective weapons, with the other Heroes quickly joining in the fray once they saw what we were doing.
Within moments, dozens of ghost fish creatures had flown out of the shadows they were hiding in and gathered above us, merging in a huge translucent mass.
It soon took form as a massive ghostly fish, with a humanoid face with glowing red eyes and a massive maw of a jaw that looked like it could devour any person with a single bite.
"There! The damn thing is out!" The Shield Hero shouted, "So hurry up and kill it already!"
"No need for you to tell us that!" The Spear Hero readied his weapon, "Let's kill this and end this Wave! Thunder Spear!"
"Shooting Star Arrow!"
"Crimson Sword!"
The Heroes unleashed their respective Skills upon the huge monster; lighting, fire and falling stars struck the ghostly apparition en-masse, and yet all of that did not appear to have gotten it to flinch let alone damage it.
It wasn't even bothered by them, as it turned its gaze towards me before suddenly charging right at me with its maws opened wide to show off its massive fangs the size of daggers; I quickly got out of the way as it tried to chomped down onto me, taking out a big portion of the deck instead.
"Why is it attacking me!?" I cried out.
"I-It must be your light spell!" Rishia stated, "It thinks of you as a threat!"
"Seriously!?"
After dodging another bite, I turned to the apparition and swung Chain Cross at it, only for the attack to miss as it swerved around the chain whip before charging right at me.
I barely managed to move out of the way before it smashed into the railings behind me, leaving it opened for the Heroes to once again attack it with a barrage of their Skills.
At the same time, the other monsters onboard the ship shifted their focus away from the Heroes and attacked everyone else; Eclair faced off with the skeleton captain in a duel, while Grif and Welt defended against the ship's cannons, with the rest of them dealing with all the tentacles.
Then, after escaping the Heroes' attacks, the ghostly fish opened up its massive maw and a dark orb started to form between its fangs, light bending around it as it grew larger by the second.
"That attack is…! Quick, we have to stop it!"
"You don't need to tell me! Eagle Piercing Shot!"
"Shit, shit! Chaos Spear!"
Seeing the Heroes panicking at the change of events had everyone quickly moving to assist them in attacking the apparition, blades were drawn and swung into it with great vigor and desperation.
But none of our attacks would reach it as moments later, that dark orb was fired at us and struck the ground around us before erupting in a huge explosion of darkness that shook the boat.
"Get behind me!"
"Grif, no!"
The mercenary was quick to get in front of us as he took the blast head on, but he was quickly overwhelmed with halberd blasted out of his grasp before he was sent crashing into us as the entire party tumbled across the deck and into Talos whom managed to hold its ground against the shockwaves.
When we managed to untangle ourselves from each other, I saw that the other Heroes and their respective parties shared a similar fate if not worse.
The Spear Hero seemed to have covered for his entourage and was the only one that was actually injured, with the ladies suffering nothing more than a few bruises.
The Sword Hero's party had suffered quite a bit, with Welt collapsed on the deck with a broken arm and shattered cuirass while the other members in various states of semi-conscious next to him as their leader stood in front of them with a dislocated shoulder.
I looked back at my party, and saw that Grif had somehow took the brunt for most of the attack and suffered considerably for his bravery; his armor broken apart with many splotches of blood soaking into his undershirt and gradually expanding, the wheezing from within his dented helmet was the only sign that he was at least still alive.
Not that the rest of us wasn't injured either, with Rishia suffering the least out of us with most of her cloak burnt away and her leather armor mostly intact; Trish was close behind with a cracked chestplate and her robes torn at places while Eclair's clothes had several sharp tears and her mask cracked.
Even Itsuki wasn't left unscathed by it, leaning against Talos as blood trickled down the side of his face from his temple where a gash had opened up.
A sharp pain had me looking down at my current state of affairs and I wasn't unscathed either; the metal chestplate of my cuirass had cracked inwards and parts of my tunic had large tears that exposed the skin underneath.
Without hesitation, I tore the cuirass off and threw it aside before taking out the emergency Recovery Medicine(Advanced) from my pouch and poured it on Grif, his wheezes slowly turned into short gasps as the blood splotches on his shirt stopped expanding.
I then picked out my experimental healing pellet I had put together last night and threw them at the Heroes, the special recovery formula within them splashing in their faces much to their disgust.
"Pueh, what the hell!?" The Spear Hero cried out before realizing what was happening, "Wait, my wounds are…!"
"Healing medicine." I told him, "You're welcome."
At the corner of my eye, I saw the apparition opened up its maw and the same dark orb formed between it once more.
"Shit, we can't afford to get hit by that a second time…!" I grumbled.
Things were looking dire, with our respective defenders out of commission from taking the initial attack and the Heroes were barely standing.
Not only that, the monster we had to kill was completely unharmed even after taking the Heroes' special attacks to the face, which meant either it was immune to their attacks, or its defense was higher than what they could strike down.
"Raphtalia!"
"I am the source of power, and I command you to heed my words; light, spring forth! First Light!"
An orb of light flew up into the air and shone brightly like the morning sun, causing the apparition to shriek out in pain.
"Filo!"
"Here I go!"
A command was said and a puffball of feathers flew into it with a loud clunk, the apparition merely flinched at its attack.
"High Quick!"
That puffball, the filolial queen Filo then chanted a spell and her figure blurred followed by a series of quick clanging sounds as the apparition actually buckled under the continuous attack.
Annoyed by it, it turned its attention towards Filo and fired the dark orb at it; the filolial queen immediately ran behind its master and the Shield Hero quickly blocked it with his shield.
Filo then dashed back out and dealt another series of strikes to it, all the while Raphtalia released light spells at the apparition and managed to deal damage into it.
It became clear that the Shield Hero's party was actually dealing some level of damage to it, whether it was from sheer brute force or with light magic; and the Shield Hero could actually take on its attacks without much worry.
"Magic…! Magic can hurt it…!" Trish noted as she turned to Rishia, "Use your strongest spells!"
"G-Got it!"
"Well, we can't just leave it to them…!" I pulled out Chain Sword, "Eclair!"
"If it's magic, then…"
Eclair raised up her sword and its blade began to glow with magic power as we ran towards the apparition; we weren't the only ones, as the fighter of the Sword Hero's party joined us in the charge.
She wasn't the only one, as the mage Farrie had her staff raised as she started chanting, along with a couple girls from the Spear Hero's entourage; heck, even the bratty princess was chanting, though at a much slower pace.
The former knight reached it first and swung her glowing blade at it, striking into its translucent scales and leaving a bloody scratch in it. That was quickly followed by the fighter as she struck hard into the same scales only for her fist to bounce off it with a loud clunk.
From the back, projectiles of various elements smashed into it in an explosion of elements that actually caused it to let out shrieks of pain; it looked like magic really was the only way we could deal any damage to it.
That was, until I swung Chain Sword and found that the chain whip managed to leave a gash on its body as a particularly loud shriek of pain echoed out of it, the most damage the apparition had suffered up till now.
"Liya, how did you do that!?" Eclair asked.
"I… do not know…" I looked down at the weapon in my hand, "But I'm not complaining!"
Not one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I swung away at the apparition with abandon alongside Eclair and left gashes wherever either of us struck its body, all the while the mages pummeled it with a near endless barrage of magic projectiles.
This was turning into a battle of attrition like the one we had days prior as we slowly chipped away at the otherworldly monster; but unlike then, the pace we were going at it wasn't good enough.
The Wave had already gone on for hours now, and while there were soldiers and knights helping defend the nearby villages, it wouldn't take long for the exhaustion from hours of fighting to take its toll on them.
We'd got to find a way to take it out immediately, or we might have a repeat of Lurolana Village in our hands.
"Shield of Rage!"
The heat suddenly rose as I quickly turned around to see the Shield Hero with an ominous black shield in his hand, one in the shape of a dragon and emitting some kind of reddish flame.
Not only that, the armor he was wearing had turned from gray steel into a similar black metal as his shield, with his shoulder pads and bracers gaining spikes.
"Rgh… RaaaAAAAHHH!"
A scream tore out of his throat as his eyes darted about unfocused, his pupils turning red like the flames that started to surround his body.
It was like he had become the very devil the Three Heroes Church had preached about, complete with the hellfire cloaking his body.
"Mr Naofumi!"
"Wha-Raphtalia!?"
To my shock, the raccoon demi-human ran up to her master and slapped his cheeks hard, not caring that the flames around him threatened to burn her hands.
His eyes returned to focus almost immediately as he glanced down at her as she said to him, "Get a hold of yourself, Mr Naofumi! Don't lose yourself to that shield again!"
"Raph…talia…?"
Their little moment was then interrupted when the ghostly fish suddenly charged right at the two of them with jaws wide open to devour them both.
Before Eclair and I could intercept it with our respective weapons, the Shield Hero got in front of Raphtalia and allowed the monster to bite down on him, but its fangs couldn't pierced his black armor.
That triggered something on the shield and caused the flames around him to grow immensely and engulfed the monster as it screamed out in pain.
"UUAAAHHHH!"
Filo then suddenly let out a loud scream before launching herself at the burning apparition and struck a kick that sent it crashing into the deck, before brutally slamming her steel talons down into it over and over again.
It was acting less like a tamed monster and more like a raging beast running purely on instinct, made apparent when she turned her attention towards a nearby tentacle before attacking it instead.
"W-What the hell is going on!?" Trish cried out, "Why is the Shield Hero on fire!?"
"I… I do not know…" I noted in confusion.
As if to add more confusion into the mix, the other monsters onboard started to turn their focus towards the Shield Hero and launched attacks at him.
"I don't think so! Shooting Star Sword!"
"Shooting Star Arrow!"
"Shooting Star Spear!"
Out of nowhere, the fully recovered Heroes unleashed a barrage of their Skills at them and completely decimated them on the spot; of course, it didn't keep them down for long as they soon revived moments later.
That didn't matter to them, as they ignored them and instead ran towards the apparition and began whaling on it; the ghostly fish barely flinching from their attacks.
"Shit! We need to cover them!"
"Right behind you!"
Eclair and I quickly attacked the monsters the Heroes ignored with the mages covering us, Chain Sword making quick work of the tentacles as Eclair faced off against the skeleton captain once more.
It helped that Filo was running amok and helped in taking down the other monsters around us, though there were times that I nearly struck her with my chain whip when she suddenly attacked the tentacle I was fighting.
Then, the Shield Hero made his move.
"Shield Prison!"
A barrier of shield and chains wrapped itself around the apparition, stunning the Heroes fighting it as the monster struggled against its cage violently.
"Change Shield(Attack)! Bee Needle Shield!"
The barrier of shields shifted forms into shields with long spikes within that pierced right into the ghostly fish's body as they pressed down on it ruthlessly.
That was immediately followed up by an incantation that sent shivers down my spine.
"Foolish sinner, I hereby grant you a punishment, piercing your whole body in a virgin's everlasting embrace…! May you suffer in silence, your cries muffled!"
"Iron Maiden!"
In a flash of red light, a large iron coffin appeared in the air behind the imprisoned apparition as its doors slowly opened to reveal rows of sharp spikes on every surface within it; a kind of torture device that pierced its victim from every direction when closed.
The imprisoned apparition then entered into it, and its cage disintegrated as the doors slammed shut around the monster with a loud bang, followed by the sickening sounds of flesh being pierced.
Then, a loud clang and the doors swung open, revealing the apparition riddled with holes all over its body.
It struggled to escape the confines of the torture device, but the doors soon slammed shut again and impaled it with its many spikes once more.
This time, the device vanished and the now dead monster fell down onto the deck for us to see its hole riddled body.
It was a sickening sight to say the least, even if there wasn't any blood or gore to be seen from it.
At the same time, the Shield Hero's shield shifted out of that ominous form into something else as he dropped to his knees panting from exhaustion while Raphtalia fused over him.
"Huh? Why is Filo so tired…?"
It also had the added effect of getting Filo out of her berserk state as she immediately stopped attacking before collapsing next to Talos; the griffin gave her a scoff that got her riled up but unable to act upon.
"What… just happened…?" I asked.
"I…I think the Shield Hero just defeated that monster…" Eclair stated.
It was a beast that the three Heroes could barely keep at bay, one that took all of us working in tandem just to even damage it. Sure, there was my weapon working surprisingly well against it, but even then, it was a monster equal to the Elder Grim Wolf in terms of toughness.
We would have to whale on it for hours more to wear it down enough for the Heroes to finish it off, and that was no putting into account what it would do in retaliation.
Yet ironically, all the Shield Hero took was one incantation and a special shield at hand to kill it; the man that had been ridiculed by the other Heroes as the weakest took down the very monster that shrugged off their strongest attacks.
Though that move of his appeared to have severe drawbacks, which was to be expected from something that could summon a metal coffin to basically torture it to death.
"What was that…?" The Sword Hero noted, "For all that talk about you not knowing anything about this world, you fought surprisingly well."
"…I'll admit, this is my lost." The Spear Hero grumbled, "But next time will be different, Naofumi!"
"…" Itsuki gritted his teeth before saying, "Yes, you did well, for a shielder…"
Looks like the other Heroes didn't took too kindly to his effort overshadowing theirs, like they had swallowed a sour lemon when they expected for it to a sweet orange.
In fact, the bratty First Princess herself looked very sour at the fact that she was saved by the very man she had betrayed and ridiculed for the past couple of months; Trish in particular was quite pleased at her reaction, even if she was too exhausted exchange barbs with her at the moment.
Though not exhausted enough to catch the magic potion I threw at her; I then threw another towards the Shield Hero, Raphtalia shooting her hand up to catch on pure instinct before looking at it with surprise.
"Sir Shield Hero exhausted his magic, right? That should keep him from collapsing on the spot."
"R-Right…! Thanks, Liya—"
But before she could even remove the cork, a sudden feeling of dread filled my every being, an intense chill shooting up my spine and down to my toes that had me frozen on the spot.
I glanced up and saw someone dropping down from the ghost ship's crow's nest, falling slowly like she was a sheet of cloth and landing softly in front of us.
Long flowing black hair and sharp red eyes, dressed in black robes unlike any clothing I had every seen before that makes her pale skin looked even paler, and wielding a pair of folding iron fans in her slender hands, she struck a mix between mesmerising and downright terrifying.
Without a word, her arms moved and a blade of light shot out from one of her fans, flying past all of us and striking down another of the apparitions that we had no noticed creeping up on us, the monster split in half and collapsed onto the deck almost instantly.
It was shocking to say the least; for her to easily kill the same monster that we all had trouble with and took the Shield Hero using a dangerous move to take down? It was clear that she was on a completely different level.
"Are you so easily threatened by these little monsters?" She spoke with a dismissive tone, "Looks like there's only one true Hero amongst you all."
My instincts immediately screamed for me to run, to get away from this mysterious lady; glancing back at the others, it was clear that theirs were telling them the same, with the fighter having already dropped to her knees in fright.
That lady then turned her attention to the Shield Hero and said to him, "From the battle just now, you must be the Hero. What is your name?"
"Isn't it rude to ask for one's name without introducing yourself first?"
"…Fair enough. I am Glass; in simple terms, I am your enemy."
"…Naofumi; the Shield Hero."
"Well then, Shield Hero. Shall we began the Wave's true battle?"
Opening her fans, she charged forward and swung them into the Shield Hero, the latter barely raising his shield up to defend against the attack and staggered back from the force of it.
"Don't you count us out yet! Shooting Star Spear!"
"Shooting Star Sword!"
"Shooting Star Arrow!"
The other three Heroes charged towards the newest enemy and unleashed their strongest Skills at her.
But it was of no threat to her as she simply grinned.
"How cute… Circle Dance Zero: Reverse Snow Moon Flower!"
She spun her body and swung her fans, the red sky glowed bright and a squall of flower petals blew out of her weapons, sending the Heroes besides the Shield Hero tumbling as it continued its warpath towards us.
"Liya, get behind me! I am the source of power, and I command you to heed my words; oh light, defend us from all that hurt us! Zweite Light Shield!"
"Zweite Dark Wall!"
Both Eclair and Trish immediately deployed their magic and conjured up a shield of light and a wall of shadows respectively. But the squall was far too strong for their hastily conjured protection and it quickly broke right through them before slamming into us hard.
And my vision was filled with nothing but flower petals and pain.
…
To be continued…
Here comes a new challenger!
This chapter is quite the long one, isn't it? Well, that's what I get when I want to end on Glass's explosive introduction.
Honestly, this chapter has been almost the exact same in Canon minus a few little changes like there being an additional platoon of knights that increased the odds of the villages not getting razed down.
The next chapter would be quite the dozy with the conclusion of the third Wave, so keep an eye out for it!
With that, I thank you all for reading this!