Chapter 31: The Third Wave, Part 1

"You ready yet?"

Naofumi looked at EMIYA, who had just given him the question. He shook his head.

"Not really. Well, I had experience managing a guild before, but a real military force of my own…"

Right now, the two Heroes were standing in the square in front of the Church of the Three Heroes, together with their companions and the soldiers they had recruited the other day. Besides their own teams, each of them was commanding a battalion of twenty soldiers. All of them were fully equipped, and were eager and enthusiastic in joining the fight.

EMIYA's eyes swept across the group of people. They had done all the preparation they could, but for some reason… a feeling of uneasiness was still lingering in his mind. His instinct kept nagging him that there was going to be trouble in this Wave.

Well, he should have a reason to be worried, after all. The previous day, he had heard the news that all the chancellors who were arrested during his kangaroo trial had mysteriously been found dead in their prison cells.

It wasn't as if he didn't expect it to happen. Cutting off the loose ends was something the rich and powerful always did, and there were a lot of times he succeeded in, and failed to, prevent those murders from happening. He just felt disgusted at how some people could murder others so easily and casually, without even a blink of an eye.

And this made the ones behind this even more dangerous in a way, because they didn't seem to care how many people they wouldn't hesitate to kill off before they actually reached their true target.

Because of that, he knew that everyone in his team and Naofumi's team was in danger. That was why he went and asked Erhard to make a bunch of status-nullifying accessories for everyone the other day. There was nothing guarantee that the Church wouldn't try anything during the Wave. Better be careful than sorry.

That was also why he left Yuki and Akari back at Lafan Village today to protect Atla together with Eclair's four bodyguards. With Yuki being emotionally unstable right now, he didn't want to put her in danger. And Atla, even though she got partially healed by the dose of Elixir earlier, only recovered enough to be able to shakily stand up on her feet. It's not wise to leave her alone, and with Yuki there, she's going to have someone to talk to and protect her when she needs it. Yuki didn't like being left behind, but when he explained that Atla needed someone with her, the little kitsune's eyes brightened, and she accepted the duty with a big smile.

He glanced at the countdown in the corner of his vision. Only ten minutes left, and Motoyasu and Itsuki still weren't there.

"What the hell are the other two doing?" he heard Naofumi complaining next to him.

EMIYA was wondering about that, too. Motoyasu and Itsuki were the types who liked to show off themselves as Heroes. If that's the case, they should have arrived earlier than others… or at least earlier than this.

Five minutes left, and the two Heroes still hadn't shown up. Were they planning to skip fighting the Wave or something?

But then…

"There they are."

EMIYA turned his head when Raphtalia's voice rose.

Itsuki, Motoyasu and their companions were walking into the square. Itsuki's face still bore the usual haughty expression, but when he saw EMIYA, it immediately twisted into a scowl. He led his team to the other side of the square and settled there, shooting glares at the Sword Hero in the process.

Motoyasu though…

The Spear Hero looked… worn out. His usually nice-looking blonde hair now looked unkempt, as if he hadn't slept for a few days. His shiny armor had a lot of scratches on it; it was obvious he had been fighting nonstop for a while. However, his eyes were bright with a grim determination in them.

Did he… go and fight monsters all night?

EMIYA sighed. Being enthusiastic in training wasn't something bad, but this idiot should have chosen another time to be enthusiastic, not before a big fight like this. EMIYA silently hoped with all his heart that he wouldn't be a burden during the Wave with that weary body.

The Spear Hero looked at Naofumi and EMIYA, seemingly wanting to say something, but as he opened his mouth, he hesitated with a pained expression on his face, and in the end, he just walked past them in silence and settled down at the entrance of the Church.

His harem followed behind him. When walking past the group, Malty shot EMIYA a glance. The glare was full of, not only hatred, but also lust and hunger. And it disgusted the Sword Hero more than anything else.

"There isn't gonna be enough time for a strategy meeting," Naofumi complained next to him. The Shield Hero was correct; there were only two minutes left, and considering how the two other Heroes were acting…

EMIYA sighed again. "We would need to talk to them when we arrive there, then. Hopefully they would listen this time."

00:00:03…

00:00:02…

00:00:01…

The loud explosion echoed through the air, and everyone felt their surroundings shifting, then reforming again.

"Where are we?"

EMIYA surveyed his surroundings. The sky was blood-red, and it was covered in cracks just like before. This time they were indeed teleported to the site of the Wave. Their little army also got transported along with them, and right now, they were standing in front of him, waiting for command.

The group was standing on top of a hill, on a cobbled road that led to a village. EMIYA had never been to this place before, though. However, Naofumi's face brightened when he realized where they were.

"This is the village I passed by last month. The village with the old lady who I healed up with the Elixir of Yggdrasil, remember?"

EMIYA turned toward the Shield Hero. "How far is it from here to Castle Town?"

"Should take about a day and a half. The Royal Knights wouldn't be able to get here before the Wave ends."

The gears turned quickly inside EMIYA's head. It meant they must ensure the safety of the citizens of the village first. He turned around and saw Itsuki and Motoyasu, together with their companions, running toward the cracks. He yelled.

"Motoyasu! Itsuki! Stop! We need to talk about this first!"

Hearing EMIYA's call, Motoyasu slowed his feet down. However, Itsuki just ignored the call and kept running even faster than before, not even glancing back. The Sword Hero sighed, and with a Flash Step, he closed the distance between him and Itsuki in the blink of an eye and grabbed the Bow Hero by the back of his collar. Being grabbed suddenly from behind, the boy couldn't do anything but choke out a small "ack" and stop his feet. He glared at the Sword Hero in annoyance.

"What the hell?!"

"Is it too much for you to stop charging head-first into trouble and listen to others for a while?" the Sword Hero patiently said. "Do you remember what happened the last time you did that, in the previous Wave?"

Itsuki scowled angrily at the reminder. However, those words were enough to break it into the Bow Hero's head. He still glared at EMIYA, although he stopped trying to run away now.

Motoyasu and Naofumi had also arrived at where they were standing. EMIYA took a deep breath and started talking.

"Okay, so I'm going to be brief. Naofumi has just confirmed to me that this place is more than a day away from Castle Town, so we cannot depend on the Royal Knight to push back the Wave and defend the citizens. We would need to do it ourselves, and because of that, we need to split the job. Naofumi, is there any place nearby that we can use as a chokepoint?"

The Shield Hero shook his head. "Nope. The crack is above a pretty large plain, and there is almost nothing that can be used as obstacles to halt the advance of those monsters."

EMIYA nodded. "Then this is the plan. Naofumi is going to take his battalion to the village over there and defend it while evacuating the citizens there as quickly as possible. And we, as the vanguard, must advance steadily and try to hold them back until everyone has been moved to safety. We don't have enough manpower to just charge headlong into the ranks of the Wave monsters. We cannot risk it."

"Why should we listen to you?" the girl in Motoyasu's group with red hair tied into a braid screeched. The members of Itsuki's party also followed her along.

"Yeah! How dare you order us around like that!"

"Stop trying to make it as if you're better than Itsuki-sama!"

EMIYA's eyebrow twitched. Now he didn't know whether Itsuki had corrupted his companions to make them like this, or it was these bastards who corrupted the boy and made him such an unlikeable person.

"Fueeeeh… Please don't be mean to each other…!"

From behind, the trembling voice of the kigurumi-wearing girl rose. EMIYA had seen her in Itsuki's team during the class-up ceremony, but her face had always been hidden under the hood of the kigurumi, so he had never actually seen her face before. And he hadn't heard her raising her voice before, either; the only words he had ever heard her saying were just a painfully shy answer to Itsuki's order to leave.

Every other member of Itsuki's party snapped their heads back to glare at the girl. The ever-arrogant Walter Polignac sneered at her. "Who asked you, Rishia? Just sit back and do whatever we tell you to do!"

His brother also joined in. "Yeah! Know your place, you worthless peasant!"

EMIYA suddenly felt glad he didn't take these obnoxious brothers in. They were even more annoying than he had thought. He couldn't see the face of the girl behind the hood of her kigurumi, but he was sure that she was on the verge of breaking into tears right now.

He cleared his throat to pull everyone's attention back to him. "Hey! This is not the time for argument! The Wave is coming to us, and as Heroes, we need to fight to protect anything we can, not just rush headlong in and rampage like a bunch of berserkers. If no one else can help those people down there, then we must be the ones to do so! Naofumi, you take care of the village; Motoyasu, Itsuki, we're going to the frontline. Motoyasu, you and I are going to be the vanguard, we're going to confront the Wave monsters directly and try to slow them down, hold them in place, buying time for Naofumi to evacuate the villagers. Itsuki, you'll be at the back and provide us with firepower support. You..."

"Hmph."

Finally decided to open your mouth now, huh…

"What makes you think you can order me around? You're not my mother. I don't have any duty to listen to what you say."

EMIYA's eyes narrowed. "What?"

Itsuki glared at EMIYA. His eyes were full of contempt.

"Just do whatever you want. But don't pull me in. I'm going to fight the Wave my own way."

EMIYA had gotten enough. He grabbed Itsuki's collar and snarled. "Listen here, you little brat. This is not the time for your stupid pride. People are going to die, and yet you, a Hero, are acting like this?! Can't you even be a little bit more responsible?!"

But there seemed to be only two words that went into the Bow Hero's ears. He slapped the ex-Counter Guardian's hands away and snarled back.

"So I'm just stupid to you? Then we don't have anything to say to each other anymore. You and your stupid strategy can go to hell… cheater."

Then, Itsuki ran away, towards the cracks in the sky in the flabbergasted look shared by everyone else. His companions quickly followed him, and soon enough, no one could see them anymore.

EMIYA sighed and turned to Naofumi. "Then I'll leave the village to you and the soldiers, Naofumi. We're going to intercept the Wave monsters, buying some time for you to evacuate the villagers, and then, please join us in combatting the boss. Is it okay?"

The Shield Hero nodded. "Understood."

"Hey, wait!" Suddenly, Motoyasu jumped in. His face was determined. "If that's the case, I'm going to the village, too! I'm going to help with the evacuation!"

EMIYA turned toward the Spear Hero. "No. You have better combat capabilities, so it will be wiser if you help in the frontline. We would need as much manpower as possible to hold the Wave back. Naofumi understands this village more than any of us here, so it's obvious he's the best person for this evacuation job. We can't waste more time here; if we keep standing here and talking, the Wave is going to devastate the village before we can do anything. Remember, Naofumi, we are not going to be able to completely hold them back; you guys must be as quickly as possible."

Even Motoyasu couldn't deny what the Sword Hero had just said. He just nodded reluctantly.

Naofumi nodded again. "Yeah. Then take care, Shirou-san."

Then he turned around, and together with his team and his battalion of soldiers, he departed for the village.

EMIYA turned his eyes toward the cracks in the sky. "It's time for us to go, too."

By the time Naofumi and his team made it to the village, it was already overrun with Wave monsters. Black condors, black wolves, goblins, lizardmen… the types of monsters people usually find in fantasy novels.

And to his surprise, someone had already been fighting… and destroying those monsters with a hoe. Not any proper weapon; a freaking hoe.

It was the old lady whom he had cured of her fatal illness the last month. She was swinging a hoe with one hand at the army of monsters who were rushing into the village. Wherever the makeshift weapon in her hand swept across, monsters were blown apart and disappeared like ghosts.

Naofumi didn't know a lot about martial arts. But from the week of training with EMIYA, at least he could realize whether a person was a good fighter or not. And the moves of the old lady in front of her… they definitely weren't of a normal fighter. They belonged to a master martial artist.

Seeing Naofumi and his group coming, the old lady's face brightened.

"Ah! Holy Saint! Thank you so much for your help!"

Naofumi dashed forward and blocked a wolf monster which was jumping on the old lady with his shield. He threw the monster away and glanced at the woman.

"The monsters of the Wave are coming; it's not going to be safe here! You should evacuate, Granny!"

The granny slammed her palm on the torso of a lizardman in front of her, disintegrating it almost immediately. She grinned back at the Shield Hero.

"You don't have to worry about me, Holy Saint! I might look old, but back in the day, I was pretty famous as a martial artist! I ate these kinds of monsters for breakfast! And now, thanks to your help, these old bones have regained their strength!"

Naofumi was relieved. If that's the case, having the old lady here would be a really big help for them. He yelled back.

"Don't overdo it, then, Granny!"

Then he turned back to his battalion.

"Ake, lead your group into the village and evacuate everyone who is still unable to escape! Keel, take your group and secure the village square! You have the archers and mages, take the high points and keep an eye on everything that moves; if they're allies and civilians, give them range support, if they're enemies, turn them into ashes. Everyone else, we stay on the ground and keep the fighting here!"

When the group of people spread over the village, Naofumi whispered to Eclair.

"Do you know anything about that old lady?"

The rosette frowned while slashing down a monster near her. "I'm not sure… but yeah, that lady looked very familiar. And that martial art style of hers… I could swear I have seen it somewhere before, but… Ah!"

Her voice lowered into muttering when another monster got turned into smoke by the old lady. "It's definitely that martial art! A style that allows the user to fight on par with a Hero, even if they were just a normal person… a style that is said to have never lost a match on the battlefield… If that's the case, that lady must be…!"

"What? You remembered something?"

Eclair's voice was now filled to the brim with excitement. She exclaimed while spinning on her feet and slashing apart another monster with her sword.

"Yes! I remember now! She must be Lady Elrasla Grilarock, the last practitioner of the legendary Hengen Musou Style!"

The blade of Legendary Sword, taking the form of Ascalon now, drew an arc in the air and turned four monsters into smoke.

It seemed that the strategy had been working well. The monsters of the Wave, attracted by the powerful Hate Reaction from the legendary dragon-slaying blade, were now focusing their targets on the Heroes' force and ignoring the villages behind them. That would buy Naofumi and his companions a lot of time to protect and evacuate the villages.

The kill quota this time was six thousand monsters, three times higher than the last Wave in Melromarc. However, EMIYA had nothing to worry about that. First of all, that number was nothing compared to the quota he had to meet during the Zeltoble Wave, and the monsters seemed to be less powerful, too. Meanwhile, EMIYA and his team had become much, much stronger than before, and they had gotten a lot more real combat experience. Besides, the soldiers who were with him were the older ones who were more experienced on the battlefield; they could handle a direct confrontation better than the younger squires who were joining Naofumi on evacuation duty right now.

Not to mention, it seemed Motoyasu was more serious about fighting the Wave this time, too. Even though his techniques were still crude and sluggish, he wasn't throwing skills haphazardly around this time. His movement had become steadier and more careful, and he seemed to be more ready to accept instructions and suggestions from the others. In short, he had become a way more effective fighter than he used to be before. Apparently, EMIYA's speech the other day had managed to break into his thick skull.

The same couldn't be said about his companions, though.

"Go! Motoyasu-sama!"

"You're the best, Motoyasu-sama! Give them hell!"

"Ugh! Can't those bitches even do something useful for once?" Tersia groaned as she swung her sword in a horizontal slash, cutting down three lizardmen who were jumping at her from behind.

Just like before, Motoyasu's harem didn't do anything except for being a group of glorious cheerleaders. Among them, there was only one girl who seemed to know what she must do, but it seemed she didn't have any enthusiasm for this, either. She had good reflexes and agility, and she could handle a sword pretty well; if trained right, she could become a decent swordfighter. Right now, she was cutting down a monster in front of her with the rapier in her hand. But unfortunately, she looked as if she would rather go home to sleep than fight.

A monster saw the defenseless women who were cheering. It snarled with its disgusting mouth which was full of saliva and rushed toward them, fangs bared. The girl with red hair tied into a braid shrieked in horror as the monster leaped at her…

…before it was skewered mercilessly by an arrow shot by Welt in the temple. The monster bounced on the ground like a ragdoll a few times before crashing on top of the girl, who shrieked in disgust.

"Ew! How gross!"

"If you're afraid of getting dirty, you should just go home and look pretty instead of staying here and getting in our way," the archer of Team EMIYA said flatly. The red-haired woman fumed.

"How dare you, you insolent peasant! How dare you speak like that to me?!"

"Did he say anything wrong?" Next to the young man, Wyndia raised her voice sharply. "You haven't done anything since the beginning of the fight other than standing there throwing around those useless cheers. If you don't intend to fight, why are you even here? This is a battlefield, not a theater!"

"We don't need to fight!" Next to her, Malty screeched. "Motoyasu-sama already said he's going to fight for all of us! He's going to protect all of us!"

EMIYA glanced at Motoyasu. "Did you really say that, Motoyasu?"

The Spear Hero didn't dare look back. "Yeah…" he answered in a small voice.

"Listen here, Motoyasu," EMIYA said in a cold tone while slashing two more monsters down with his sword. "On the battlefield, do not make those reckless promises. You never know when an enemy who you cannot defeat will appear. No one would be able to protect everyone… no matter how strong that person might be."

Not even caring about the glares Malty and her red-haired friend were throwing at him, he glanced at the corner of his vision. The kill count had just jumped straight to six thousand from about four thousand five hundred; Itsuki must have done something to the monsters he was fighting ahead. And the road in front of them had been mostly cleared. He yelled and pointed his sword forward.

"Advance to the crack! We need to reach where Itsuki is fighting!"

The army rushed forward at his command. Soon, Motoyasu's party was the only people left on the road. Malty walked toward the Spear Hero and patted him on the arm.

"Don't listen to him, Motoyasu-sama! You're the best Hero; there's no way you're going to lose to anyone!"

"Am I really?"

Motoyasu just blurted out that question without a thought, and he didn't need an answer, either. Squeezing the shaft of the Spear with both of his hands, he ran after the Sword Hero and the army, leaving behind his harem, baffled and shocked.

Two hours had passed quickly. It was as if they had just been fighting for five minutes. However, they had managed to keep the monsters at bay, and the villagers of this village as well as the neighboring one had also been evacuated safely. The three other Heroes were seemingly doing a good job repelling the monsters at their source.

Having Eclair and the soldiers with him helped a lot, too. The swordsmistress really lived up to her name; monster after monster who would have taken both him and Raphtalia to defeat before now fell under her blade so easily it felt just like she was born for this job. With the help of the soldiers, as well as of the adventurers who happened to be in the village at the moment, the evacuation proceeded much more quickly and efficiently than during the previous Wave where he didn't have any help.

Well, he did have help from the villagers, but they were just amateur fighters and didn't have any training, so…

It's safe for Naofumi and his party to take a breather now. Of course, they were not going to let their guard down, but now that the village was secured, at least they could fight at a more relaxed pace, now that most of the monsters in the vicinity of the villages had been disposed of.

Eclair approached the old lady, who was now sitting on top of a rock nearby. "Um… excuse me for asking, but… are you Lady Elrasla Grilarock, the last master of the Hengen Musou martial art style?" the swordsmistress asked hesitantly. The old lady laughed.

"Can't believe that youngsters these days also know about this old pile of bones! Yes, that's exactly my name, indeed! Although I'm not going to call myself a master; I'm just a practitioner of the art who has lived long enough to understand everything about it, to the point it became a part of my life."

Isn't that what people call a 'master' of something, though?

Eclair's eyes turned into stars. "How can I not know about you, Lady Grilarock! Your name is among those of legendary fighters in the history of the world! I heard that you were even banned from tournaments in Zeltoble forty years ago because no one could defeat you anymore!"

The old lady broke into a fit of laughter. "So that's what people think about it now, huh? Nah, it's just that I didn't like the life of fighting non-stop anymore, so I just withdrew from the world of martial arts to let the youngsters take the spotlight. But believe it, these old bones can still pack more than just a punch!"

Then she stood up and looked at Naofumi. "Holy Saint! You can just leave this place to me and go help the other Heroes! We'll be able to handle it!"

Naofumi looked at the old lady. "Are you sure you can handle it, Granny?"

The martial arts master punched her own chest. "Ha! Don't underestimate me, Holy Saint! My level and my age are almost the same! And you restored me to my prime with your miraculous medicine; there's no way I'm going to lose to these creeps!"

Ake, the leader of the group, also nodded. "Yes, Lord Shield Hero! We'll stay here and help, too! We can handle this from here!"

Naofumi looked at the group of people. Their faces were all brimmed with confidence and trust. They trusted him… and they also wanted him to trust them. This was the first time he had seen this expression from people… since he was summoned to this world.

He nodded. "Very well. Then I entrust this place to you! Raphtalia, Eclair, Keel, Konoha, Sakura, Himawari! We're going to the other Heroes!"

Itsuki shot a volley of arrows at the horde of monsters in front of him, taking out a few of them.

He cursed in frustration. No matter how many monsters he shot down, more and more kept coming to replace them. The quota was six thousand, but it might as well be sixty thousand; there's no way he could handle all of them alone! The other Heroes were supposed to be here fighting also; it was like that in the game. And yet, Motoyasu, the only seemingly "passable" Hero, for some reason seemed to listen to the nonsense rambling of the Sword Hero and stuck with "holding back the Wave" instead of engaging it directly, like Itsuki himself was doing right now.

This is not the time for your stupid pride.

His blood boiled as the words of the Sword Hero echoed once again in his head.

It was just like when he was in his world.

Back then, he was never allowed to be proud of anything. No matter what he managed to achieve, no matter how much effort he spent on them, looks of contempt were the only thing he received from his parents and acquaintances when he talked about them.

"Dad! Today I got a 9 on the Math exam!"

"Only 9? Then what are you so proud about? You should have aimed for a 10. Only losers would be satisfied with just a 9."

"Mom! My story has just reached 7000 followers! It has become a hit on the forum!"

"Oh, nice! So how much money did you make from it?"

"Eh? It's just fanfiction, I cannot make money from it! It's not allowed!"

"Then why waste your time? Why don't you use that time to do something useful for once, like going out to find a part-time job or something, instead of locking yourself at home and writing things that cannot even make you a penny?"

"Hey, that loser Itsuki got third place in the math contest the other day."

"Only third place? And I thought he was good!"

"Anyone can get third place! What is he so proud about?"

"What a loser…"

He had done everything he could. He had put everything within his abilities into those works, and it's not like he hadn't achieved anything from them. So why wasn't he allowed to be proud?

Is it because being proud of your achievements is a sin? No, the other people he knew were always bragging about how strong they were, how smart they were, and how rich they would become after graduation, and people didn't even bat an eye. Only when he talked about what he managed to do did they start saying words like that.

A loser does not have the right to brag. No matter how good they are, how much they try.

Itsuki does not want to be a loser anymore. And this game was the chance for him to escape from that fate. But it seemed that the bad fate didn't want to leave him.

He yelled, and another arrow was let loose from his Bow, piercing through a bunch of monsters in front of him.

He's supposed to be good at this game. He had known everything about the game before he arrived here. He had even beaten the final boss, and even the four Guardian Beasts, the superbosses of the game, all by himself. So fighting something like this Wave should have been a piece of cake for him.

But nope. For some reason, he had been struggling. Badly.

The rewards for the missions that he completed himself were stolen by someone unknown to him. The monsters that he should have killed easily somehow all became so hard to kill. The strategies he devised against the boss monsters, which should have led to easy victories, had all been useless so far.

It wasn't supposed to be like this. What was happening?

He's not just angry now. He's scared, too. Is he going to be a loser in this world, too?

"Arrow Rain!" he yelled, and unleashed his ultimate AoE skill. An arrow was launched from the Legendary Bow to the sky, and in mid-air, it split into thousands of arrows and rained down the heads of the monsters below. The air was immediately filled with an orchestra of pained shrieks as monsters after monsters were slain by the arrows made of energy. The kill count jumped from 4783 to over six thousand in the blink of an eye.

"That's Itsuki-sama for you!" The armored knight holding an axe cheered loudly. "A rain from heaven, full of justice!"

Itsuki couldn't hide a smirk upon hearing Mald's words. Ha, take that, Emiya Shirou! Who's the better Hero now?

And sure enough, with the fulfillment of the quota, the boss monster, a large ship which looked like it came from a cartoon about ghost pirates emerged from the crack in the sky. But Itsuki knew from his experience in the game that the ship was just a camouflage; it needed to be destroyed first before the real boss of the Wave, the Interdimensional Soul Eater, came out. And since the other Heroes weren't here, he's going to be the one who did it.

Another arrow made of energy appeared on the arch. He's going to use his strongest piercing attack to finish off the monster in one hit.

He pulled the bowstring and aimed the arrow in the direction of the monster ship. Wind energy gathered up around him and coiled around the arrow, turning it into a mini tornado, and the arrow itself started glowing brighter and brighter in a green light.

The tornado raged around him even fiercer, and he yelled.

"Eagle Piercing Shot!"

With that, he released his grip on the bowstring. The arrow shot out like a bullet and took the shape of an eagle made purely of wind in midair. It rammed itself into the starboard of the ship and drilled through it, piercing through the hull before coming out of the other side, leaving a big hole in the hull. Itsuki smirked; that attack didn't destroy the ship completely, but it surely dealt big damage to it. A few more shots and it's definitely going down.

He readied another shot on the Legendary Bow…

"Look!"

Rishia's terrified voice drew his attention. She was pointing her shaking finger at the ship in the air. He looked up, and his stomach suddenly felt like someone had just dropped a whole tube of ice into it.

The hole on the ship was closing up. Not like "being repaired", but rather "time reversing to return it to its original condition". Faster than a blink of an eye, every damage on the monster ship was gone, as if nothing had just attacked it.

What the…?!

He knew that the Ghost Ship had regeneration ability. But it wasn't supposed to be this powerful! If it is like this, there's no way Itsuki alone can take it down!

And holes on the starboard of the ship snapped open. Thirty-two of them.

Time seemed to stop at that moment. For a single second, no one could move a muscle. They all understood what was coming, but there was nothing they could do.

And everything around them turned into hell when the thirty-two cannons on the starboard of the ship opened fire and drowned the field in a tsunami of cannonballs. The air was immediately filled with noises again, but this time they were the sound of explosions and the screams of Itsuki and his teammates. A cannonball struck the ground right next to Itsuki and blew up violently; it seemed that there were explosives inside the projectile. The Bow Hero was flung into the air like a rock by the aftershock of the explosion. He crashed on the ground painfully twenty meters away with a loud "bam"; his high level might have protected him from being blown to kingdom come, but no matter how much he had leveled up, a human body is just not born to handle a fall like that. A piercing pain throughout his whole body told him that all his limbs had broken in the fall. His ears were ringing; he couldn't hear anything clearly anymore. And there was only a blinding white light in his eyes right now.

"Ah."

How… is it possible? Am I… going to die?

And his consciousness faded.

And the third Melromarc Wave of Calamity started.

This chapter marks the appearance of the legendary Hengen Musou master, Elrasla Grilarock, and her contribution to combatting the Wave. If anyone was wondering about the part where she was also a legend in Zeltoble, then remember, Captain Fargus had only emerged as the strongest fighter 10 years ago. Elrasla's legend dates back to way before that; after all, she was nearly a hundred years old. And I have to say, a battle between the Seven Star Axe Hero and the legendary Hengen Musou master is definitely going to be incredible... if it happens.

And Itsuki is dead. Or is he?

Find out in the second part of the Wave battle, in the next chapter!