Chapter 27: What is the Wave?
"Every battalion except for the evacuation team, mobilize immediately to the port! Evacuation team, start evacuating the citizen of Zeltoble Harbor to the Grand Stadium and keep them safe there! Immediately move the warships to the sea and arm the weapons!"
"Yessir!"
The army rushed out of the Hourglass Hall like a flood, heading in the direction of the port, where the Wave was coming toward with their weapons unsheathed and ready. Even though they were a bit disorganized, at least they had the spirit.
"Goddamnit," EMIYA heard Fargus cursing behind him. "Of all the places it could choose to hit, why did the Wave choose this place as its target?"
In the captain's voice, there was something that unnerved the ex-Counter Guardian. And EMIYA thought he knew what the Axe Hero was worried about.
"The Hourglass?" he guessed, and the other Hero nodded with a grim expression.
"If they manage to destroy the Hourglass, there's no way for us to know when the Waves would happen anymore. Without a clear time, we won't be able to prepare for the worst things, and…"
He didn't need to finish the sentence. EMIYA could understand what his fellow Hero was implying; they cannot let the Wave monsters destroy the Hourglass, or the country is doomed.
"Fohl! Tersia!" he yelled, and the two teenagers stopped dead on their track.
"You two stay here and protect the Hourglass," he said. And before any of the two youngsters could open their mouths to protest, he continued. "Keeping the Hourglass safe is something essential to the survival of this land. I'm not going to entrust that mission to someone I don't know. You are the only people who I believe can do it."
"But there are just two of us," Tersia looked at him in doubt. "How are we going to deal with the Wave monsters if they come at us in hordes?"
"Who said that you're going to be alone?"
Everyone turned toward where the new voice rose from. Refia the blacksmith was walking toward them, with a few people wielding all kinds of weapons behind her. The woman herself was hauling a weapon of her own on her shoulder, which didn't look like anything EMIYA had seen before; to be fair, it could be called a battle axe, but EMIYA was sure that there was no battle axe without blades and two crude prongs on each side of the shaft like this thing.
"Just leave this place to us!" the blacksmith grinned and clapped her rough hand on Fohl's shoulder. "I might not be a Hero, but I'm no slouch when it comes to fighting. We're going to keep this place safe while you're out there fighting that goddamned Wave!"
EMIYA glanced at Fargus, and the captain nodded in confirmation.
"Then I leave this place to you," he nodded. He looked at Fohl and Tersia. "I believe in you all."
Then with those words, he departed to the frontline together with Captain Fargus.
A squad of guards at the dock found themselves surrounded by a horde of monsters that were rushing at them from the direction of the sea. They looked similar to the creature called kappa in Japanese mythology, but way more feral and vicious. Their squad leader had fallen from his valiant attempt to hold back the monsters for his comrades to retreat, and now there was no other way for them to run anymore.
But they cannot run. If they ran away, there would be a lot of innocent people in the city who would lose their lives at the hands of these monsters.
"We need to hold on!" the oldest member of the squad yelled while hacking at the nearest monster with his sword. "Hold on until Captain Fargus and Lord Shirou arrive! We cannot let them get past the gate!"
It's easy to say than do, though. There were only fifteen people in the squad, and six of them already fell, including their captain. Now, the remaining nine soldiers were fighting desperately with their lives on the line, but no matter how many monsters they felled, more and more appeared and replaced them; it felt just like they were a few ants trying to hold back a tsunami. The only thing left besides them that separated the monster horde from the city was a rather low wall and a gate.
Was there any hope for them, at all…?
"Thousand Blades!"
The vision of the guards was immediately and suddenly filled with the sight of thousands and thousands of swords raining down at the horde of monsters. The monsters shrieked in surprise and pain, but there was no way mere mooks like them could withstand the power of thousands of Noble Phantasm-level weapons striking down at them from above. Just like that, the vanguard of invaders, which contained about a thousand monster mooks, was obliterated in a blink of an eye.
Startled, the guards snapped their heads back, but before they could realize what was happening, their heads immediately had to turn again as the Sword Hero in red landed on the ground in front of them with the Legendary Sword unsheathed and taken the form of Gaelion's Wrath in his hands.
"Retreat to the wall!" the Hero in red barked at the group of guards. "Take care of the injured! We're going to take it from here!"
Captain Fargus landed next to him as more and more monsters emerged from the sea. From behind him, the infantry battalions were also pouring out of the gate, ready to fight. On the wall, the archer battalion was also ready.
"FIRE AT WILL!" the Axe Hero bellowed, his roar echoed around the battlefield. "NO MATTER WHAT YOU MUST DO, DO NOT LET ANY ONE OF THEM GET INTO THE CITY!"
With a collective cheer of valor, the army charged forward.
Wyndia waved her staff in a large arc in front of her. A wave of fireballs appeared in midair and launched themselves forward into the oncoming horde of monsters like cannonballs, obliterating them in a series of explosions.
She winced lightly. The magic she used was nothing; she had performed a lot of more grandeur magic under the tutelage of her foster father. However, this was the first time she had to use magic to harm other beings.
But…
A kappa-like monster leaped at her, swinging its scimitar-like weapon haphazardly around. She tensed up, ready to dodge the attack…
But before she could do anything, Farrie had arrived in front of her and blocked the attack with her own staff. Then, she spun her staff around, and with a movement like a batter swinging for a home run, she smashed the monster into the sky, right into the way of an arrow shot by Welt from the direction of the wall.
"Are you okay, Wyndia-chan?" she breathed out. "Don't lose your focus! I know the first time you kill something is difficult for you, but you cannot afford to be distracted!"
Wyndia pointed her staff forward. A bolt of lightning shot out of the tip and fried four monsters coming at a swordsman who was looking a bit winded, giving him some seconds to take a breather.
"I'm okay," she breathed out. "It's just… these things… they're scary. I… don't like them."
Farrie agreed. "I know. The first time I had to face them, I felt my feet frozen, too. Even how they look was terrible…"
"No, not that…"
Farrie blinked. "Then what is scary?"
"These things… they are not normal. They are not even animals," the dog girl shivered. "Usually I can understand what other animals say, but… these things… I can't understand anything. Their screeches and growls and things… they don't have any meaning at all. They don't even communicate with each other. It's just like… they were mindless animated corpses."
What Wyndia said made Farrie recoil in shock. She muttered. "No way… What the hell is the Wave, then?"
"Look out!"
The two girls' heads snapped back, only to see a woman in red armor skewering a monster under the tip of her spear. "Pay attention, you two!" she chided the two younger girls. "This is not the time to lose concentration! You are the only magic users of our battalion; if you die, we're going to be in trouble!"
The two girls of Team EMIYA scratched their heads awkwardly. "Ah, right…"
"34! 35! 36! How about that?"
Oliver Patel shouted in glee with each monster he managed to shoot down. His talent with the bow wasn't anything to laugh at; each and every arrow flying out of his bow so far had been lethal. One shot meant one kill; archers with that level of skill were indeed rare.
The green archer glanced at Welt, who was standing a few steps away from him with a smug smirk. The archer of Team EMIYA didn't pay him any attention, though; his focus was aimed at the monsters on the ground, and each arrow coming from his bow also struck the monsters with utmost precision.
That pissed the green archer off. That commoner came to this place out of nowhere, got recognized by the Sword Hero himself as the best archer, and now he had the gall to ignore him?!
His blood boiled. He's not going to let that brat take all the glory.
Drawing an arrow from his quiver, he aimed at a monster that had just managed to slip past the vanguard and fired. The arrow flew a brilliant arc in the air, and hit… the arrow Welt shot, which was also aiming at the monster. The two arrows fell to the ground harmlessly.
Welt glanced at the other archer in surprise and shock. The green archer leered back at him with a smug look; a provoking light could be seen clearly in his eyes. Yes, I did that. What are you going to do about it?
Welt stood there, speechless, for exactly two seconds. And at the third, his eyes gleamed, and with a movement as fast as a flash of light, he pulled an arrow from his own quiver and nocked it onto his bowstring. And, to Oliver's shock and horror, the archer of Team EMIYA… aimed it at the green archer.
"Oi, oi, what the hell—"
The arrow left the bow with a blinding speed. Oliver couldn't even open his mouth to resist; his mind was blank, and his bow was hanging uselessly in his hand.
But the arrow never touched his body. It flew past his right ear and buried itself into the forehead of another monster that had managed to slip past the vanguard and climbed up the wall, and was now leaping at the green archer from behind without him knowing anything. The force of the shot was so great the arrow pierced the skull of the monster and pinned it to the wall behind the two archers.
Welt walked past Oliver, who was still rooted in place, stunned by the sudden action. He plucked the arrow he had shot before from the corpse of the monster and used it to shoot down another monster below. Then, he turned back to Oliver and said with a calm voice.
"I don't care about being the best at anything. You can keep that title for yourself; that's completely fine by me. However, this is a battle for this land's sake, and we need to do our best and direct all of our efforts toward the enemies. Feel free to go home if you have time for that kind of petty grudge."
Then he turned away, back to his work, leaving the other archer behind, stunned and ashamed.
Another monster fell under the blade of the Legendary Sword.
EMIYA let out the breath he had been holding for a while. He straightened his back and took a glance around the battlefield.
Even though the monsters had the advantage in number, it was the human side that was actually winning. Those monsters, even though equipped with weapons and deadly appendages on their bodies, seemingly didn't know anything but charge headfirst into the defense line and get killed. And it seemed that the Wave wasn't sending more of those mooks into the fight, because he could see that the ranks of those small monsters were getting thinner and thinner.
The force of the human alliance couldn't afford to spread too thin. Had the monsters got a proper commander with just a tiny sliver of common sense in their mind, they had only needed to spread their force a little bit and leave a small force to attack from the flank or the sides, and Zeltoble Harbor would be flooded in no time with monsters. However, since the beginning of the fight, the only thing that they did was send more and more monsters in one direction from the sea, aiming at the gate leading into the city that the alliance was guarding. Like a horde of mindless zombies.
"You realized it too, didn't you?"
EMIYA didn't need to turn his head to know that Captain Fargus had just spoken up right next to him. He nodded while slashing down another kappa who was charging at him with its spear brandished.
"Yeah. Either this was a natural phenomenon without anything controlling it, or the one behind this Wave was a total imbecile who didn't know shit about tactics and strategy at all. But that doesn't make any sense…"
Fargus' face suddenly darkened. "Or maybe they didn't need to do that. Something worse is coming."
From the sea, three new figures emerged. They were five times bigger than the normal monsters they had seen, and each of them was wielding a huge trident in its hand. They didn't look like kappa, but rather, they looked like muscular fishmen wearing bronze-and-iron armor.
The new monsters rampaged across the battlefield. They swung their weapon haphazardly around; even though they were not any smarter than the other monsters, the brute strength they possessed made them much more dangerous than the normal mooks the alliance had fought so far. Some of the fighters tried to stop them, but all they could do was get tossed away like sacks of rice.
EMIYA clicked his tongue. These things are going to be a big problem if he doesn't get rid of them soon.
"Captain!" he yelled. "You take the right one; I'll take care of the other two!"
Usually, Fargus would have yelled back at him about trying to steal the glory. But surprisingly, the pirate captain only answered him with a grin and started engaging the monster without any question.
Glancing back at his own opponents, EMIYA did a quick estimation of the situation. Those monsters were powerful but slow and unskilled; the best way to deal with them wasn't to overpower them with strength, but to overwhelm them with agility and speed.
Gripping Gaelion's Wrath tightly in his hands, he dashed towards the sea giant standing closer to him with the speed of a bullet. The monster saw the Sword Hero coming; it roared and swung its weapon in a downward smash, shaking the ground and sending a wave of sand toward the Sword Hero. However, EMIYA wasn't just any normal warrior; he had already seen the attack coming, and immediately switching the Legendary Sword into its Daitsuuren form, he swung it in a vertical arc in front of him, sending a sharp wave of water forward which cut through the sand wave like butter and struck the giant indiscriminately on its chest. The monster roared in surprise, and EMIYA dashed right through the collapsing wave of sand, and with a nimble and quick strike, slashed the monster in the right knee. The monster collapsed on its remaining knee with a shriek of pain, and using the knee as a fulcrum, EMIYA jumped up and stabbed both blades of the Legendary Sword, now have taken the form of Gaelion's Wrath again, into its eye sockets. The giant monster let out a final squeak of pain and fell over, dead.
Glancing at the other side of the battlefield, the Sword Hero saw that Captain Fargus had also disposed of his enemy without breaking a sweat. He wasn't called the strongest man in the continent for nothing, really.
Then… the only thing left was to take care of the last sea giant, which was now advancing toward where the smallest member of Team EMIYA was fighting. Yuki was standing about a hundred meters away from him, firing icicle spear after icicle spear at the incoming horde of monsters.
The giant monster roared and charged toward the kitsune; its weapon lashed around wildly, aiming at the fox girl. But EMIYA wasn't worried; he knew that Yuki was more than capable of handling this monster alone. She only needed to transform…
And at that very moment, EMIYA felt something was going horribly, horribly wrong.
The trident of the monster was coming closer and closer. But Yuki didn't show any sign that she was going to transform. Instead… her eyes were widening in an expression that the Sword Hero dreaded ever seeing on her. Fear.
Shit…
"Flash Step!" he roared, and launched himself toward the direction where the fox girl was standing. The Legendary Sword in his hands morphed into the form of Ascalon; he arrived in between the two beings and raised the sword in front of him horizontally to block right before the giant weapon landed on the poor kitsune's head. The two weapons collided with a deafening "CLANG", sending a shockwave across the battlefield, and thanks to the massive defense boost the sword provided, EMIYA himself wasn't harmed by the attack, but the backlash of the strike was enough to send the monster tumbling a few steps back. It fell flat on its butt, and its head smashed backward on the ground painfully. Taking that chance, the Sword Hero immediately grabbed Yuki and jumped back a few steps, making a distance between himself and the monster when it was still dazed.
"What's wrong, Yuki?" he asked, glancing at her. "Why didn't you transform? You could have taken it down easily if you did, couldn't you?"
The fox girl stuttered; her eyes were still filled with fear. "Yuki… Yuki… can't."
Those three words alone made EMIYA turn his head in surprise. He placed her down on the ground and looked straight into her eyes. "You… can't? But how is that possible?"
Yuki just shook her head wildly. Tears started forming at the corners of her eyes. Seeing that, EMIYA clapped her shoulders.
"Okay, we'll talk about this later. Stay here and keep yourself safe, okay? Papa is going to deal with that monster first," he said as the monster shook its head trying to snap itself out of its stupor. He closed the distance between himself and the monster in a blink of an eye and swung his sword in a wide arc, mercilessly cutting off the arm holding the trident. The monster shrieked in pain when black miasma, instead of blood, spurted out of the stump on its shoulder, and taking that opportunity, EMIYA jumped up and decapitated it with a single slash.
After finishing up his enemy, the Sword Hero turned back to the smallest member of his team. He gently lifted her up; the poor girl seemed to be completely shaken from the experience.
"You okay, Yuki?" he whispered to her ear. "Just take a rest; we'll take care of everything else for you, okay?"
Then he looked back over his shoulder and yelled. "Akari! Are you free? I need some help!"
The Shadow girl was also one of the people who joined the battle. She was technically a soldier of Melromarc, so when he asked for her help with the Wave, he had expected that she wouldn't agree to join the battle of another country. But surprisingly, the girl had actually agreed to help without any question. Maybe the Queen had ordered her to do so, for whatever reason he didn't know. Right now, she was dealing with the small creeps together with a group of fighters nearby. Hearing EMIYA's call, she dashed across the battlefield and arrived next to the man in a blink of an eye.
"What do you need from me, sir?"
"I need you to take Yuki back inside the wall and keep her somewhere safe," said the Sword Hero urgently. "She's in no condition to fight now; we cannot keep her on the frontline any longer."
"Papa…!" the kitsune protested weakly, but EMIYA didn't let her finish her sentence. He knew what the girl was thinking, and he was not going to let her torture herself about that.
"Listen, Yuki. I know you are still able to fight, but I cannot let you go into a battle if you don't calm down. I don't want to let you get hurt when you are in a panic. You need to stay back and calm yourself down first, and then, after that, you can come back, do you understand me?"
EMIYA didn't have that much experience dealing with children who are in a panic. Children who are panicking because they suddenly lose their power were even worse. However, there was one thing he knew for sure: never make children feel depressed and useless. Telling them that they cannot do it without their power is just going to leave a deep trauma in their mind forever. Not to mention, Yuki was powerful even without transforming; it's just she didn't have much skill battling as a human; no one could say that she was useless. That made it way harder to find words to console her now, especially in the middle of a fight like this. Luckily for him, Yuki was a good girl, and she didn't question him any further. She just nodded weakly in Akari's arms.
Suddenly the ground below them rumbled. Not only the ground, but the sea also. The water surface was churning wildly, as if something was stirring the sea up with a giant invisible ladle.
"Sir Sword Hero!" a warrior yelled. "Something is coming from the direction of the sea!"
Oh, come on…
Larsazusa glanced at the entrances of the Grand Stadium, where the citizens of the town were gathering, in worry.
So far, nothing had gone out of control, yet. The evacuation team had managed to gather up everyone in the city without any problem, and now the citizens of Zeltoble Harbor were all safe and sound inside the walls of the huge colosseum. There was no fear of anyone being harmed, for now.
And that was exactly why she was worried.
Is a battle against a Wave of Calamity supposed to be this easy? If everything just goes smoothly without any problem like this, how is it going to be a danger? Or is this just the calm before the storm?
Then suddenly, the whole colosseum shook.
What the…?!
But the tremor stopped as soon as it came. The stadium didn't suffer from any damage, and it didn't seem that they were under any attack. Curious, Larsazusa jumped to the top row of seats, where she could have a look outside, and her eyes widened.
"Oh, crap."
Those were the only words that EMIYA could utter upon seeing the creature which had just emerged from under the sea.
The monster looked like a black Western dragon, albeit without wings. However, it didn't need wings to look utterly menacing and dangerous. It was at least seven meters tall, and with its scaly long neck with spikes protruding out of the back, the monster could even reach the top of the tallest mast of the Ark. Its maw, full of sharp fangs and teeth, was dripping with saliva and something that looked disturbingly similar to acid, and a yellow forked tongue was lolling out and swishing around.
"Holy…" he heard Farrie gasping next to him. "That… that thing is huge! It is even bigger than Gaelion-san! Will we be able to kill it?"
The monstrous dragon roared madly. Then, it started moving toward the city.
"Now it's the work of the Ark and the Zeltoble Navy!" Captain Fargus yelled. "Ships, cannons ready! Do not let that monster get close to the shore!"
Upon the command of the pirate captain, eight battleships lining up offshore since the beginning of the battle opened fire at the same time. EMIYA had learned an interesting thing about weapons using gunpowder in this world in a discussion with Welt back when they were still in Melromarc. Turned out in this world, the power of firearms using gunpowder doesn't scale with the level of the user like other types of weapons. No matter how strong the wielder is, they would only be able to deal that much damage with a shot. That was the reason firearms were usually scoffed at, because whatever the guns could do, some normal fire magic would also be able to do even better.
However, that only proved how shortsighted most people of this world are. They only thought about the firepower and completely ignored how fast a bullet could be compared to a normal fireball. A skilled gunner with an assault rifle would never let a spellcaster finish his incantation before turning him into a beehive. And even if one gun couldn't inflict that much damage, eight frigate-class warships full of cannons firing at once would definitely pack a serious punch. Especially in situations like this.
The black dragon roared when the rain of steel cannonballs hit its body. Water splashed around wildly, blocking the monster from view.
"Yeah! How's that?" the Axe Hero pumped his fist triumphantly.
But when the water calmed down, and the dragon once again appeared in everyone's view…
"What the…?!"
There was NO visible damage on the body of the monster at all. There wasn't even a scratch.
"It's impossible!" a warrior nearby exclaimed. "No matter how strong it is, there's no way it could come out of that barrage without a scratch!"
"Again!" Fargus bellowed, and another volley of cannonballs bombarded the monster. The giant dragon let out another deafening roar when the steel balls hit its body again, but just like before, the bombardment had no effect. The monster, seemingly annoyed by the attacks, snarled and started advancing toward the shore faster than before.
"Damn it!" the Axe Hero cursed. "Is that monster invincible?!"
"Let me try!" Wyndia yelled. She brandished her staff in front of herself and waved it around in half a circle above her head. Magical energy started gathering and swirling around her like a typhoon, forming the shape of a magic circle below her feet.
"I call upon the power of the Water to come to me and take form!" she declared. "Dragon Veins, listen to my command and drown your enemy with the rage of the ocean! Dance of the Water Dragons!"
From the surface of the sea, two giant dragons made of water emerged with a roar and launched themselves toward the black dragon. These giant water hoses were much, much stronger than the barrage of cannonballs the ships had just fired at the monster, and this time the black dragon was pushed back when they rammed into its body. It should have felt the hit, because its roar this time actually had some sense of pain in it.
But when the attack died down, everyone gasped in horror. Even that attack, utilizing the Way of the Dragon Veins, did nothing to the monster other than aggravating it. The black dragon snarled savagely, and from its mouth, a wave of something that looked like some kind of gastric acid shot out and tore a battleship of the navy in half.
"No way…"
"Even the Way of the Dragon Veins is ineffective…" Farrie muttered in shock. "What in the world is this monster?"
"Wait! I think I know what to do!"
Welt's voice reached them from the wall. He was running toward a ballista set up on a tower of the wall nearby. The boy reached the siege weapon in no time, and with a deft movement, he loaded the weapon and aimed it at the incoming boss monster.
"Let's see how you keep yourself safe from this! Focus Shot!"
Normal fighters don't have access to skills like Heroes wielding mythical Weapons. However, they can use magical power to utilize some techniques similar to those skills. And different from the Heroes, they could use those techniques with any weapon that they happen to wield at the time, including siege weapons. Upon the declaration of the skill name, the bolt was released from the ballista with a loud explosion, destroying the weapon as it broke the sound barrier and flew at the monster like a lightning bolt. The bolt drew a straight line in the air, and struck the head of the monster with incredible power and utmost precision, so powerful it completely cut the head off from the dragon's neck, leaving only a bloody stump on the body of the monster.
Everyone stared at the sixteen-year-old boy with both joy and disbelief clear in their eyes. Captain Fargus raised a thumb at the archer with a grin.
"Good job, boy! Can't believe we didn't think about that! How did you realize that the head was its weakness?"
Welt scratched his head in embarrassment. "It's nothing… it's just, when I realized that all the shots we aimed at that monster had been toward its body only, I thought, what about the head? Then I tried, and… yeah…"
EMIYA didn't say anything, but his mouth curled up into a silent smirk. This boy never failed to make him proud.
Oliver walked toward Welt. The green archer looked at the ground, then glanced aside with an expression as if he was in pain. Then, he took a deep breath and looked into Welt's eyes with his hand extended.
"Before, I thought I was the best archer, and no one would be able to match my skill," he said. "But today, you have shown me that you are better than me. You are not only a better archer, but also a true leader. I'm sorry for what I did before. You truly deserve to lead us."
Welt smiled and grabbed the other archer's hand in a handshake.
"Uh, everyone… are you seeing what I'm seeing?"
Farrie's voice reached even the two archers standing on top of the tower. The priestess' body was trembling nonstop, and her voice was two pitches higher than normal. She was pointing in the direction of the monster's body, which was about three hundred meters from the shore.
Everyone's eyes followed her finger. And the temperature around suddenly dropped about twenty degrees.
At the stump where it used to be the head of the black dragon, a sickly yellow-colored substance was bubbling up in a very disturbing way. And then, something incredibly disgusting happened. The neck of the monster split down in the middle, like string cheese getting pulled apart, and each of the new necks sprouted out a new head.
"No…!"
The monster snarled madly. It looked like the latest attack had completely pissed it off. It rampaged around in the sea; its two heads continued spitting poison blasts at the battleships, which destroyed another one and badly damaged two more to the point they couldn't move anymore. Realizing that the one who had just decapitated it was at the tower, it started moving even faster toward the shore, and was only about a few minutes more before it would reach the port.
An invincible body… Poisonous breath… Heads that multiply after being cut off…
"Don't worry!" yelled Fargus confidently. "Now that we knew where its weak point is, it's just a matter of time before that monster falls! Everyone, aim all your firepower at its heads!"
"No, wait, don't…!"
EMIYA's warning came just a second too late. All the ballistae and cannons had unleashed their ammunition at the dragon which was now charging madly toward the port. And different from before, the rain of projectiles struck the monster dead at its two heads, obliterating them in a deafening explosion.
And to the horror of everyone, even faster than before, the two necks of the dragon split down and sprouted four new heads. Everything happened in less than two seconds.
EMIYA's fear had been confirmed. This monster wasn't simply a dragon. An immortal monster, with an invincible body that could not be harmed and heads growing back up no matter how many times they were cut down… there is only one monster that he knew that carries all these traits.
"A Hydra. This monster is a Hydra."
Yes, the Hydra. A Phantasmal Beast with top-class fame in history. It is a monster that possesses an incredibly deadly poison that is said to be able to instantly kill any mortal beings it touches. Even immortal Divine Spirits wouldn't be able to survive it untouched; while they wouldn't be killed, the constant excruciating agony caused by the venom would make them wish they could die. Together with its invincibility and regenerating capability, it could be said that the Hydra is one of the most dangerous monsters that have ever existed. In the history of humankind, there is only one single Heroic Spirit who is reported to have killed this monstrous dragon.
Why in the world was this monster here? Why the hell did it appear at this very moment? What the hell is the Wave, after all?!
The Hydra had finally reached the shore. It roared madly, and its black, spiky tail lashed out, taking down a part of the wall protecting the city in an instant, together with some archers who were standing on top and couldn't move away in time.
"Tsk…"
Then a sound that frightened EMIYA beyond anything he had experienced until now rose right next to his ears.
A female soldier let out a deafening shriek of terror. She dropped the sword she was holding in her hands and turned tail, running away. And that was just like a trigger; seeing their comrade running away, other fighters also lost morale and started deserting the battlefield.
"No, idiots! Don't break the formation!" Captain Fargus yelled, but his words fell on deaf ears. The morale of the army was completely gone due to the appearance of the Hydra, and now there were only about twenty or so warriors who still stayed and fought. The other fighters tried to retreat into the city through the broken part of the wall, but some of them were trampled on by the monsters they hadn't been able to kill yet, which were also trying to get into the city. With the defenders suddenly dropping like dead flies, the remaining monsters which hadn't been killed started pouring into the city.
If this continued…
"Captain," he turned towards the Axe Hero. "Is there any place nearby where we could fire a very big spell without making a lot of collateral damage?"
Fargus was startled. "Huh? Well, there is; outside of the city, near the west mountain, there is a very large patch of land without anyone living there, but…"
"Then we're going to lure the Hydra there," EMIYA nodded, not letting Fargus finish his sentence. He turned to Wyndia, who was standing next to him right now. "Wyndia, you are a master of the Way of the Dragon Veins. Do you know any spell that can do a lot of damage, like, bringing down a building in one hit?"
The dog girl was startled by the sudden question from the Sword Hero. "Um, I… Papa only taught me some of his spells, nothing very advanced, but… yeah, that much damage, I think I know a spell that might be able to do it. But… I've never tried something of that scale before. That kind of magic needs some time to prepare too, so…"
"Good," the Sword Hero nodded. "Then Captain, I need you and Wyndia to go with me. We only have one chance to finish that Hydra off."
Fohl gave a monster that was coming at him a particularly nasty punch to the head. The skull of the poor monster caved in almost immediately, and it fell over, dead.
Next to him, the other fighters were also fighting. Tersia was decapitating monster after monster with her giant sword. Refia was also crushing the enemies with her weird axe-like weapon. The other fighters were also doing their best. All of them were fighting with everything they had to prevent the monsters from rushing into the Hourglass Hall.
"There are too many of them!" A warrior holding a spear exclaimed while skewering a monster with the tip of his weapon. "What are the Heroes doing out there?! Why aren't they stopping them?!"
"Focus on the battle!" Refia yelled at him while smashing the head of another mook apart with her own weapon. "You are not doing anything good by complaining like that!"
"The Heroes are supposed to protect us!" another one shot back at her. "They should have been the ones doing something instead of being useless like this!"
"DO NOT… TALK ABOUT… THE HEROES… LIKE THAT!"
Everyone jumped as Fohl's roar echoed around the square. No one had expected that a little boy like him could possess such a terrifying voice. Even the monsters had to halt their advance, intimidated.
"Master and Captain Fargus are fighting out there, defending all of us in here…" the boy growled, his fists tightening up even more than before. "I know for a fact… that they are not going to abandon us. However… we are also citizens of this city. Defending it is not only their duty… but it is our duty, too! If we keep relying on the Heroes forever… we will never be able to do anything for ourselves!"
The square suddenly went silent in exactly five seconds. Then, at the sixth, Fohl felt a hand squeezing his shoulder. He looked up, and saw Refia looking at him with a big grin on her face.
"Excellent words, little Fohl!" the blacksmith woman said with excitement and pride in her voice. Then she turned toward her followers.
"Have you heard the boy? If you still think of yourself as citizens of this country, then stop moaning and start fighting to defend our motherland!"
One more second of silence. Then, a yell of approval rose from the defenders. Then another one. Then another one. Then another one… until finally, a loud cheer echoed around the group of defenders. And they charged into battle again with a renewed vigor and bravery inside them.
Larsazusa stood, silently, in front of the main entrance of the Grand Stadium.
Right now, all other entrances into the stadium were sealed off. It meant that the only way for the monsters to get into the place to slaughter the people inside was to get through her.
And the monsters knew that, too. That was why they were gathering at the entrance where Larsazusa was guarding. However, none of them dared to take a step closer.
They were all mindless monsters, ones without any sense of self. Which meant they shouldn't have such things as fear and caution. However, there was something coming from the lone woman standing in front of them that made even mindless beings like these monsters unable to move a muscle. She just stood there, staring at them with her black, beady eyes impassively.
The Sword Hero had given her the mission to keep this place safe, keep the people they had rescued safe, no matter what it cost. And she's not going to let him down.
The two sides kept standing there, doing nothing but staring at each other for a while. Then, finally, a mook, seemingly tired of the silence, leaped forward at the panda woman.
And she did something no one could have expected. She took a deep breath and let out a roar. No one could have thought that a person like Larsazusa could have let out such a powerful and terrifying sound like that. The sheer pressure coming from her voice tossed the monster backward, and the other monsters all took a step back unconsciously. But then, they recovered as quickly as possible, and just like a signal gunshot, the army of monsters charged.
"Come on!" the panda woman snarled. She brandished her kusarigama and charged headfirst into the horde of monsters. "None of you is going to get past this place alive!"
Welt shot down a monster leaping at him with its weapon brandished at point blank. Not even missing a beat, he plucked the arrow off the monster's body and stabbed it into the stomach of another monster that was trying to sneak up on him from behind.
He grimaced. Until now, he had followed exactly what his teacher taught him, which was to avoid direct combat as much as possible, and thanks to that, the worst injuries on his body were just a few scratches. However, he knew that he wouldn't be able to keep up with it much longer. He was running out of arrows, and with this number of enemies, he knew he couldn't keep running away and taking them out from a distance.
His back touching the back of someone. He glanced back, and saw himself standing back-to-back with Oliver. The green archer had also run out of arrows, and was now fending off the monsters coming at him with a pair of daggers.
"Any plan, captain?" asked the green archer as he slashed down another monster. Welt smiled when he felt no hostility and envy in the other archer's voice anymore. He drew his own sword from its sheath behind him and cut a monster in front of him in half.
"Plan? Yeah, just kill as many monsters as you can until sensei defeats that boss."
"You seem to trust the Sword Hero a lot, huh."
Welt smiled. He took a glance at the sight of the Hydra a few blocks away from them. "Yeah. If we cannot believe in him, there's no one else we can believe in anymore."
The Hydra rampaged through the city. Buildings collapsed with each step it took, and so far it had crushed a very good chunk of the city under its feet in its attempt to catch up with its enemies.
Compared to the normal mook, the Hydra was a little bit smarter. Therefore, it could feel annoyance toward the ant-like enemies which were running away from it. It roared in anger; its four heads spewed out poison blasts at the Heroes, but none of the blasts could even touch them. The Hydra might be smarter, but only a little bit more than a normal mook; programmed in its system was only the instinct to destroy everything within its sight. Therefore, just like a wild, mindless animal, there was no way it could escape the attraction of the person in red who was drawing it away with a particularly powerful Hate Reaction.
EMIYA nimbly dodged to his left to avoid the splash of poison which was melting a house on his way. The spiky tail of the monster lashed out again, but to the Sword Hero, it was no faster than a swing of weapon from another Servant. He jumped up, and the tail only passed below him harmlessly. He swung his sword, which was now in its Ascalon form again, and delivered a cut on the tail, which of course did nothing, then used it as a springboard and dashed away again.
"Hey, Brother Sword," he heard Captain Fargus, who was carrying Wyndia on his shoulders, right next to him. "Are you sure about this? Are you sure we can defeat this monster alone?"
"I know how to defeat that monster, and I have the way to do it," answered EMIYA. "However, I cannot do it alone. But with your help, I know we are going to be able to do it. Trust me."
And he wasn't lying. Heracles, the great hero of Ancient Greece, slew the Hydra of Lerna as the Second of his Twelve Labors. Myth said in order to do that, he created the legendary Nine Lives technique, which exterminates no matter how many times his opponent resurrects. It was the ultimate counter to resurrection abilities, a technique that reached the realm of godhood.
Or that was how it was supposed to be, anyway.
Nine Lives was an incredible battle technique, no doubt about that. But even with it, Heracles couldn't finish off the Hydra alone. In mythology, Heracles needed the help of his nephew, Iolaus, to cauterize the wounds of the monster right after the heads were cut off. That must mean that the Hydra wasn't that invincible; there existed a single moment of vulnerability on the monster's body when each of the heads was cut off.
But that was exactly the problem: a single moment. Even if he could replicate Nine Lives to destroy the heads of the Hydra, he didn't think there would be anyone here fast and strong enough to cauterize the wounds on the Hydra's neck without killing themselves in the process.
The key to the battle is not to destroy all the heads of the monster; it was to stop the resurrection of the heads after they were destroyed. If they couldn't do that, the monster would just resurrect forever and become stronger each time it returned.
Heracles could afford to kill each of the heads and then cauterize them one by one because he was, well, Heracles. His strength, stamina, speed, and everything about him were things normal humans could never compare themselves to, no matter what they did. Not to mention, the one who helped him, Iolaus, was also a member of the Argonaut, and a person worthy of being a Heroic Spirit himself. There was no way EMIYA could afford to prolong this fight, even with the help of Wyndia and Captain Fargus.
The only way that he could do it was to destroy all the heads at once, then immediately destroy the whole thing with one blast big enough to completely stop it from regenerating.
"Wyndia. How much time do you need to prepare that spell you mentioned?"
The dog girl blinked in surprise at the sudden question from the Sword Hero. "Uh… about five minutes, I guess…"
"Good. Then I'll buy you guys five minutes. Prepare your magic, and make sure they are at full power. We only have one shot at it. Captain, I want you to keep Wyndia safe. Do not let anything harm her, understand?"
Wyndia's eyes widened. She yelled while Captain Fargus swerved to a side to avoid another deadly blast from the Hydra. "Are you nuts!? You cannot handle it alone! How are you going to—"
"Wyndia. Do you trust me?"
That question made Wyndia choke up. She wanted to say more, but the words seemed to get stuck inside her throat, and for a few seconds, she couldn't do anything except for looking at the back of the Hero in red who was running ahead of her.
It's not like she didn't trust him. During the last few days, she had started developing some respect for the man who called himself the Sword Hero. And he had shown her what he could do, so now she had started to believe that he didn't call himself that just to brag.
But something in his voice just now… it scared her. That monster was too powerful for anyone to face alone. And she was sure that EMIYA knew about it. But his voice… it was not something that belonged to a person who was confident that he would win. It sounded just like… he knew what might happen to him, and yet… he was still going to plunge himself into the fight.
Even though he might be a jerk, and she disliked him for trying to harm her father… she didn't want him to die. At all.
"But…"
"Good. Then do your best until we're ready. We're going to get it ready as fast as possible."
Wyndia stared at the person who was carrying her in disbelief. But Fargus only nodded and turned away, taking another route to head to the other side of the field. But before leaving, he didn't forget to throw EMIYA a light whisper.
"Good luck, Brother."
When the Sword Hero led the Hydra away, into the clearing outside the city, Wyndia immediately started. "Why did you-?"
"We're not going to be able to stop him," Fargus answered her without looking straight into her eyes. "The only thing we can do now is to do what we must do and believe in him."
Yeah, sure, saying that he would do it is always easy. But how he could actually do it is another thing, much, much more difficult.
The Hydra was now staring down at him with all of its four heads. He could understand why no other hero could be a match for the legendary monster; after all, even standing in the presence of the beast was nauseating enough for any normal human being to handle.
And now, he was facing it alone, without anyone helping him or anything to defend himself except for a sword. Well, a supposedly "legendary" sword, but still.
But this wasn't the time to think about that. And definitely not the time for complicated plans, either. Usually, in situations like this, charging headfirst into a complicated plan would just make it explode in your face.
Right now, there was only one thing he was sure about. The Hydra had that venom blast, and its long necks also gave it an incredible advantage. The only way to keep the fight going is to stay as close as possible to the monster.
It seemed the Hydra had gotten sick of waiting. Snarling in anger, all four heads of the monster lashed forward, aiming at the tiny man dressed in red who was just standing there, glaring at them. And magical energy exploded from EMIYA in response.
"Trace, on."
In just a hundredth of a second, his whole body was flooded with mana, and his vision became much clearer and keener. Even though the monster was strong and fast, it was no different from what he had experienced during his life, and from his adventures to the Singularities and Lostbelts in Chaldea. With a burst of speed, the ex-Counter Guardian dashed forward straight into the forest of heads. The heads twisted and turned, trying to bite into the body of the tiny man jumping around in between them, but the annoying fly was just too nimble and quick for them to catch up. He dashed around, and jumped on the monster's body and up one of its necks, as if he was climbing a mountain. The leftmost head of the monster lashed out at EMIYA with its venomous fangs bared, but the ex-Counter Guardian had already seen that coming and stopped his movement, rolling down the neck he was standing before the head went past where he used to stand just a moment ago and bit off its own neck instead. The head fell to the ground, and just like before, two more heads grew, replacing it.
Five now…
But this was within EMIYA's calculation. As long as the number of heads didn't reach over nine…
He swung the Legendary Sword, now in the form of Ascalon to keep his defensive capability as high as possible, to his right to deflect another bite from the monster. Then, spinning in midair, he landed on the back of the monster. All five necks of the Hydra curled and turned, and all five disgusting maws were now aiming at him.
Aw, crap…
EMIYA immediately knew what was going to happen. Withdrawing his sword, which had now taken the form of the most powerful two-handed sword in his arsenal at the moment, the Chimera Lion Sword, and hefting it onto his shoulder, he swung it forward in a wide arc.
[Name: Chimera Lion Sword – Quality: Epic – Base Power: 120]
[Attack +70. Defense + 40. Fire-element Magical Damage Increase: extreme. Additional 100% damage against monsters with Chimeric trait.]
[Skill unlocked: Dawn Lion (MASTERED).]
[Proficiency: 86%]
[Unlocked at level 40 - UNLOCKED]
"Dawn Lion!" he roared as the giant lion head made of fire containing most of his energy shot out and met the five blasts of venom in midair. The powerful technique struggled against the five blasts of the monster, but eventually overwhelmed them and continued to advance, blasting three of the five heads to smithereens. Six more heads grew from the stumps where the decapitated heads used to be, raising the number to eight.
But even that wasn't enough to completely protect EMIYA from the deadly attack of the Hydra. Some venom still managed to get through, and the Champion's Garb was now riddled with holes, courtesy of the drops of venom splashing on it. EMIYA winced; had it not been for the absurd protection of the garment, he would have been dead a thousand times already. How in the world did Heracles manage to survive the battle against the Lernaean Hydra without a scratch?!
And now, the number of heads had reached eight. He could not afford to use a grandeur attack as he did before, lest the monster advanced to a level he wouldn't be able to deal with.
What should he do now...?
"I'm ready!"
The attention of both EMIYA and the Hydra was drawn to the direction of Wyndia's voice. And his eyes widened when he saw it.
The dog girl was floating in the air; behind her, there was a large pair of wings made of pink magical energy, and the same magical energy was also raging around her, just like a tornado. And floating in midair above her head was a gigantic ball of energy. Nothing more, nothing less. But that was exactly what made EMIYA's hair stand… well, even more than what it was usually, anyway.
The Way of the Dragon Veins utilizes magical energy from the environment surrounding the caster to perform incredible magic. The higher the amount of energy that matches the element of the spell is, the more powerful the magic would be. However… the spell Wyndia was using at the moment… it seemed to take in all the magical energy in this area, regardless of elements, mix everything all together, and release it all in a single blast. A very simple concept, maybe the simplest among the Way of the Dragon Veins magic, and very easy to execute… but when it is executed, nothing would be able to survive.
And considering how big of a fight the battle to defend the city had been… the magic residuals that were still lingering in the air should be a lot.
Usually, something that contains that much mana within it would be incredibly difficult to control. But right now, the four rings of pink light surrounding the sphere of light were keeping the mana inside it stable and firm. This must be the help of her new staff, because the orb in the head of the weapon was also glowing in the same light. The rings spun around the sphere before locking themselves in a straight line surrounding the mana structure, facing the direction of the Hydra… just like the barrel of a cannon.
Even the Hydra itself realized the danger. Even though its IQ was only a little bit higher than a cockroach, it could still feel when something was not going well for it. Ignoring the annoying little ant which was giving it a hard time, all of the monster's heads turned toward the direction of the dog girl and the sphere of energy. But before it could even turn its necks, the monster was bound to the ground by hundreds of steel chains bursting out of the ground, courtesy of the Sword Hero. It struggled in vain, trying to escape the binding that was immobilizing it, but it was impossible; a skill coming from the Legendary Sword itself wouldn't be able to be broken that easily.
"Now, Wyndia!" the ex-Counter Guardian yelled. Wyndia was startled; if she fired the magic now, it was going to hit the Hero himself for sure, too. She protested.
"But—"
"Don't worry! I'll be able to get away!" assured EMIYA. Wyndia couldn't see him from that far away, but his firm and confident voice managed to convince her. Taking a deep breath, she brought her staff down.
A humongous beam of light exploded from the sphere of energy. And at that very same moment, the Sword Hero moved. But he didn't move away. Instead, he rushed toward the Hydra.
Everything happened in one single second.
"Trace, on. Trigger, off."
He reproduced the strength of the greatest hero. He reproduced the skills accumulated through years of training, the mindset of the brave demigod who stared down even the strongest monsters. He surpassed the speed of sound, stepping one foot into the realm of gods. He rushed forward, ignoring the punishment the Legendary Sword was doing to his body. In his mind, there was only one single thing that had to be done.
Shooting the Hundred Heads – Nine Lives Blade Works.
All eight heads of the Hydra were destroyed in less than half of a split second. There wasn't even a screech of pain escaping the throats of the monster; its heads, together with the appendages connecting them to the body, were destroyed so thoroughly that the only thing remaining was some pieces of flesh and bones. The body started regenerating, but there was no time for it to do so before the beam of destruction arrived and hit it with the power of a ballistic missile.
Wyndia's scream of despair was drowned out by the sound of an earth-shattering explosion.
So… this is it for me, huh…
The pink light engulfed him, and everything disappeared.
So, Zeltoble's Wave of Calamity. As you could already see, it wasn't pretty. It showed clearly that the Waves weren't something from a game anymore.
Next time, someone unexpected is going to appear. Stay tuned to know who that person is!