Dear Readers,
Some people have noted that my portrayal of Shirou makes him an OC. I disagree up until the point of his death. The Shirou of this story after his reincarnation has lived 25 years as a dragon and taught my dragons, not humans. That would have affected his personality, but his core to want to save people is still there, but slightly altered by his time as a dragon.
If people have better suggestion, while keeping in mind his time as a dragon, to better fit him as the lovable wannabe Hero of Justice, please leave behind your comments in a constructive manner.
ShirouKuroEmiya
Chapter Two "A Certain Guild"
I stared at the battlefield. There were many Heroic Spirits for each nation and the longer it's history meant more heroes to potentially become Heroic Spirits. So there were many, nearly countless number of Heroic Spirits I or EMIYA could ever count. Yi Sun Shin had been one of those Heroic Spirits that neither of us had encountered before.
The number of monster corpses and lack of human ones was one testament of his power.
He might be a powerful individual by himself per say, but his Noble Phantasms, one of them I had witnessed, was incredibly strong. His swords I could easily ignore as I had countless more powerful Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms, but the Geobukseon was a rarity. It was a very rare category of Noble Phantasms classified as Fortress-type, and very few of these also possessed potent Anti-Army capabilities. In fact, I doubted Gilgamesh had a prototype or older version of the Geobukseon.
What was even more scary was that Yi Sun Shin didn't possess just one, but if I recalled my memories about the Korean Admiral, he should have 12 more waiting to be unleashed.
13 Geobukseon… I shuddered at the sight of such a potent force being unleashed at once.
"Are you my Master?" asked Yi Sun Shin in the body I had been inhabiting until his summon as he bowed before me.
I sighed in relief that my current form was similar to Servant. My dragon body was in a spirit form so none of the soldiers and the Hunters that had come later through the Gate had spotted me.
"I can't call myself a Master when I didn't summon you or possess any Command Seals." I replied.
"You are currently my anchor sustaining my existence," replied Yi Sun Shin and he stared into my eyes. "I suspect you have the knowledge and means to force me into obedience."
I didn't show my reaction, and my draconic nature likely made reading my body language even me difficult for the Servant.
The Servant was right to guess that I had the knowledge to construct magic spells and rituals to enforce obedience. My rebirth as a dragon had opened up many doors that had remained forever out of my reach. If I forgot what I had learned and honed in my dragon years then they were the Mystic Codes and Noble Phantasms of Unlimited Blade Works to fall back upon.
"What is it you desire?" I asked, hoping to change the direction of the conversation. "There is no Holy Grail War to fight for and make your wishes possible. I do not see any threat that endangers the existence of the human race for Counter Force to arrange your appearance."
"My wish to defend my homeland," said Yi Siun Shin as he stood up and glanced at the korean soldiers and hunters. "I will never participate in any competition such as a Holy Grail War where I must kill others to have a chance of my wish being granted."
My respect for the Korean legend went up another level. Few people could give up the chance of having their wishes granted by an omnipotent device and would gladly forsake their morals to turn their wishes into a reality.
"So you want me to sustain your existence so you continue to protect your homeland?" I summarized.
Yi Sim Shin nodded. "That is correct."
"What are your conditions?" I asked as while there was no way I could turn down such a powerful helper, there were certain limits I accepted. For example, breaking the law or committing evil acts.
The Korean Servant listed his conditions and brought up scenarios to ensure I couldn't misunderstand him. In fact, his principles seemed very closely related to my own save for the fact that instead of wanting to save everyone (humans), he prioritized the Korean people.
"I don't have any problems with those conditions," I replied.
"Then the contract is completed," Yi Sun Shin chuckled. "Do you have any other questions?"
I gazed up and down the body I had been using temporarily until I had been ejected out with Yi Sun Shin's summoning. "Is your descendant still alive? He had been on the verge of death when I temporarily borrowed it. The strain you placed on his body with your superhuman feats would have also not helped…"
The admiral rubbed his mustache that had suddenly appeared with his manifestation. "The best way to describe my descendant's condition would be a medically-induced coma. As long as I don't suffer any life-threatening wounds then Yi Sun-Jun will eventually make a full recovery."
"How long before he reawakens?"
"That I don't know. You will have to ask a medical specialist of the mind or soul."
I sighed. My rebirth as a dragon might have opened paths that had been blocked to me in my human life, but I hadn't gotten much chance to explore magic involving the human body, soul and mind besides the basics. One, my education had revolved more around dragons because of my draconic nature. Two, humans made up a tiny minority in the Reverse Side, something like an estimated million over a world larger than the surface Earth (human world). I hardly received any education regarding humans and I learned more about goblins than humans in my second life.
My pondering came to a halt when the Korean soldiers and hunters approached Yi Sun Shin.
"Chungmugong-nim (Yi Sun Shin's most well known title)," said Cha Hae-In, which I knew thanks to my Reality Marble reading her equipment's history, as she respectfully bowed. "It is an honor to see you amongst the living."
The rest of the hunters followed their leader's example and bowed their heads until it reached their waist. A few went as far as get down onto their knees and their heads touched the ground as if they were worshiping the ancestors.
"Women now serve in the military?" asked Yi Sun Shin in surprise as he glanced at the female hunters.
"We are not in the military, Chungmugong-nim," said one of the female hunters.
Hae-In glared at the hunter and she bowed her head in shame. "I will be happy to explain later, Chungmugong-nim." Hae-In replied smilingly. "I would like to ask your…" She glanced at the Geobukseon. "Summon away from the Gate. Otherwise additional people cannot enter the Dungeon."
"I will inform my Geobukseon that people may come out through the portal." Yi Sun Shin nodded. "Do we only need to guard against monsters, or are other humans also a potential threat?"
Several of the hunters seemed to shift with unease.
The soldiers that Yi Sun Shin had saved didn't seem fazed by the potential situation of having to fight other humans. As soldiers of the South Korean Army, they were trained first to kill humans before monsters as they served a nation that may wage war on other nations if the need arose.
Before anyone could explain, a blue square appeared before Yi Sun Shin.
I flew over with my tiny dragon wings and looked at the writing that appeared.
[Welcome to the System. Your Awakening is complete. Congratulations on becoming an S-Rank Hunter! You have unlocked the Rider Class.]
"What is this blue square and does anyone understand these words?" asked Yi Sun Shin.
Yi Sun Shin and I seemed to be the only ones in the dark. Everyone else seemed to understand what was going on if their reactions were anything to go by.
Hae-In looked at the Korean admiral with anticipation. "Chungmugong-nim, please read out what is inside the blue square."
The Korean Servant read out aloud.
"South Korea has another S-rank Hunter!" A hunter shouted.
"That's one more S-Hunter to protect the nation!"
Voices of excitement and cheering quickly drowned each other out until I could barely make out each individual voice. If I was still a human, I would have been able to separate each voice from the crowd and hear what they were saying, but I had never reached a similar training as a dragon. My parents and fellow dragons would have said why would you need such a skill when you were a dragon. That all you needed was overwhelming physical and magical abilities to kill whatever prey stood before you.
"I do not understand anything about this," said a confused Yi Sun Shin. "Will someone explain–"
One another blue square appeared.
[Quest: Kill the Dungeon Boss
Time Limit: 2 hours
Penalty: Dungeon Break]
"We have two hours? That's shorter than expected."
"Two hours is plenty of time to take down the Boss."
"Don't get overconfident. That can get you killed. Don't be the one that dies."
"Overestimating the enemy is also something you should avoid."
"It's about balancing. Don't get too cocky and doubt your abilities."
"That's enough!" Cha Hae-In shouted to her Hunters. "Get ready to raid the Boss."
"The enemy is here," Yi Sun Shin declared while drawing out his two swords.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The footsteps of something heavy echoed while a large bloom of dust formed in the distance. It had to be closed from the noise of footsteps and dust clouds. I flapped my wings and climbed thirty meters. From my height, I noticed a large ogre surrounded by eight other small ogres. Every ogre was heavily armed and armored.
It was not long before these ogres within the sights of the humans below me.
"It's an Ogre King, A-rank monster, and eight Ogre Lords, B-rank monsters," announced one Hunter.
Yi Sun Shin was able to step in to intercept before I interrupted, "Let the Hunters try. I want to see what they are capable of."
"I will step in if it looks like they are about to lose," declared the admiral. "I hope you have no problem with that Master."
"No, I don't."
The first to engage was a heavily armored Tank-class Hunter. He rushed forward with a tower shield nearly the same size of his body. A loud roar escaped from his mouth and the Ogre King and Lords' eyes locked onto him. The strange thing was that it wasn't a simple roar that had hit the ogres. Mana had come out of his mouth, but it was not a sound-based attack designed to inflict damage as seen by any visible injuries. If I was to guess it might have irritated the ogres by causing their ears to ring? Maybe a mental-type attack. I would have to investigate it later.
My attention turned to the other more lightly armored Fighter and Assassin class Hunters that approached the ogres as they rushed towards the tank. Magic spells rained upon the ogres. The first wave affected movement, senses or mind. The ogres were left disoriented before they came under attack by lightly armored hunters.
The magic using Hunters attacked with a combination of magic spells that either weakened the ogres in some fashion or powerful single target spells. If there was an opportunity without harming an ally, they would unleash wide-area effect magic spells that could do incredible amounts of damage such as a fireball.
And, I couldn't forget about the bow-yielding Ranger class Hunters. They inflicted injuries like their lightly armored fighter and assassin counterparts, but they also could cause weakening effects with their poisoned or enchanted arrows.
Now that I thought about it, the more I watched the battle, it seemed something more out of a RPG or MMORPG game as how they attacked and worked together the ogres. I shook my head while flapping my wings. The Hunter's equipment must be affecting my mind then I had expected. The history I had read from their equipment kept repeating the video games terms, tactics and behaviors of players…
Shaking my head, I returned my attention back to the battle as Cha Hae-In finally stepped into the battle.
Her body moved at superhuman speeds. None of the lightly armored fighter or assassin hunters could match her speed. She was close to surpassing the human limits and reaching the standards of a Servant in terms of her agility.
The rest of the hunters moved to intercept and bog down the Ogre Lords while Hae-In challenged the Ogre King alone.
Hae-In was like a dancer, weaving out of danger and attacking when there was an opening. Each strike was shallow as the Ogre King's thick plate armor every part of his body well. She barely caused shallow cuts to where her blade had managed to pierce through the thinner armor protecting areas like the armpits, elbows and knees.
If she was physically stronger or possessed a better weapon then the Ogre King would have likely fallen long ago instead of the continued fighting it turned out to be.
Thump. Thump. The Ogre King collapsed onto his knees before they eventually gave way as the last life-sustaining blood bled out. There wasn't even enough time for the rest of the corpse to fall down onto the ground when the remaining other eight Ogre Lords died from Hae-In's lightning fast attacks.
"Finally, they are dead…"
"The Ogre Lords took forever to kill. Their physical and magical resistance was no joke."
"S-rankers are no joke. We couldn't even take them down after several minutes when a Cha-nim took them down within seconds."
"Man, if I didn't undergo a Complete Awakening then I could have had the chance of potentially climbing to S-rank…"
"You wouldn't be where you are right now if you didn't make that decision. If you had made a Partial Awakening it would take you years to become an A-rank Hunter. No, that might have not even been possible considering how dangerous our job is."
"Damn, Complete Awakenings are like a gacha. The chances of becoming an S-rank is less than 0.01%. An A-rank about 1%. B-rank is 10%, and so on."
"Enough talking everyone! Five minute break before we move on," proclaimed Cha Hae-in to her team. "The System hasn't announced that we have cleared the Dungeon yet, so the Boss is still out there!"
"Master," Yi Sun Shin's voice echoed in my mind. "I cannot sense the enemy, but my instincts tell me we are about to face an overwhelming force that the Hunters cannot defeat."
"I see them," I chuckled as my dragon eyes could see in colour spectrums that humans couldn't. If I focused enough I could transform my vision into thermal scope that was likely one of the many evolutions involved to become the second most dominant species underneath the gods during the Age of Gods. "Prepare yourself. I am going to force them out of hiding."
The magnificent spiritual organ known as a Magic Core started to jump gear. It had been significantly underperforming to conserve on mana. This was not the Reverse Side where ambient mana was so abundant that Phantasmal Species and Divine Spirits could exist. I finally started to draw more mana than I had from sustaining my vital functions and Yi Sun Shin's existence.
The immense amount of mana started to enter my lungs then gather at my throat. I opened my jaws and an explosive roar escaped. It was akin to a bomb going off. The roar didn't escape in all directions. I made sure to direct the mana away from those beneath me, sparing Cha Hae-In and her Hunters.
Lights flickered. Previously unheard noises erupted from all around the hunters. Like a dying light, clear surroundings started to fade slowly. Loud sounds reaching the noise level of a busy rush-hour highway erupted from all around.
"What the hell?! There was an entire army of monsters around us without us realizing it."
"The weakest are Orc Lords! That's thousands of B-rank monsters."
"There are hundreds of A-rank monsters! Ogre Kings."
"How did we miss this? Park-ssi, what weren't you doing your job as the scout!"
"Enough, we don't have time for the blame game. We can talk about this later after we survive!"
"Chungmugong-nim," stammered Cha Hae-In as she nervously glanced around. "Is there anything you can do to get us out of this situation?"
"There is!" Yi Sun Shin nodded and a large war drum appeared before him. "Beat the war drums!"
The moment the first beat echoed from the drum; a sense of serene calmness watched over the Hunters. Their fearful expressions and nervous movements faded away. Energy erupted from them as Yi Sun Shin started singing in a dialect of Korean I couldn't recognize. The hunters certainly did.
Whether male or female, the hunters' excitement picked up as they collectively shouted, "For our people. For our country!"
What happened next surprised me. It didn't matter if they were not warriors, rangers and mages charged in different directions. They all chose the largest gathering of ogres.
Fighters and assassins slashing or crushing the ogres with their weapons were all within my expectations.
What confused me the most were the rangers and mages. Range was their greatest asset. It kept them out of the reach of melee monsters. Their equipment forgoing defense in favoring more desirable traits such as increased strength and agility for rangers or rapid mana regeneration and boosted magic spells.
I don't know if it was because they had prior close combat training or being influenced by Yi Sun Shin's Noble Phantasm, but they swung their bows and starves like clubs. Monsters had skulls, torsos and limbs crushed when there was an opportunity to shoot arrows or magic spells into the packed ogres.
Cha Hae-In had transformed a mean killing machine to the grim reaper. Ogres fell down like wheat being farmed with a scythe. It didn't matter if they were B-rank Ogre Lords or A-rank Orge Kings. All were equal before the S-rank Hunter.
The monsters were clearly intelligent in their use of layered magic spells that had hidden them from sight, hearing and smell or the proper military formation they had employed to surround the hunters. So it was evident that they would identify the source of hunters' invigorated state and high morale to target Yi Sun Shin and his drum.
If the Hunters were killing machines then Yi Sun Shin was the most eye-brow raising sight on the battlefield. He did not stop for a second to beat the war drums, but he continued to circle ahead the war drums while fighting any monster that attempted to target him or the war drum. The Korean Servant was a literal dancer of death that used whatever part of his body that was available to kill the monsters in one blow.
The battle continued in the favor of the hunters, but it started to slowly shift. No matter Yi Sun Shin sang and beat the war drum, the boost it provided couldn't replenish the mana they used or fatigue they accumulated from battle.
The tiring hunter started to make mistakes that would have proved fatal if I hadn't been there to make a focused use of Dragon Fear, and the times I had to intervene continued to climb at a significant rate that I started to debate about hiding my presence.
"Master, there is no need to worry." A confident Yi Sun Shin's voice washed over my mind. "We are not yet at the stage of no return that you must reveal your presence. I still have some cards up my sleeve."
"Then I will trust you to handle the situation," I replied while preparing plans of my own if Yi Sun Shin proved unable to resolve the situation.
I flapped my wings and stopped until I reached about the height of a hundred meters. From my new vintage point, I noticed the army that the hunters had fought had only been a fraction of a larger army. A vanguard to eliminate any humans near the Gate.
Normally, it was the opposite way around where the Servant fed intel to the Master, I linked my senses with Yi Sun Shin so that he could see what I was.
"Retreat!" Yi Sun Shin's voice exploded, drowning out all noise. "We cannot hold this position anymore. Retreat through the Gate."
I was awed by the lack of refusals or complaints that would normally happen when an unfamiliar individual took command. This was how much the Korean Hunters trusted their national hero. The retreat unfolding before my eyes also revealed why Yi Sun Shin was called one of the greatest military commanders to ever live. He was by trade a naval commander that had commanded boats, not soldiers yet he made it seemed like he had been an infantry commander all his life.
As the hunters finally grouped up near the Gate, I still flew about twenty meters into the air to give Yi Sun Shin, arguably a better leader than I could ever be, an overview of the battlefield.
"Chungmugong-nim," a sweating Cha Hae-In addressed her nation's greatest hero. "We cannot retreat any further. The Gate leads to Gangnam, the center of Seoul. Millions will die if we re–"
Yi Sun Shin placed a firm hand on the S-rank Hunter's shoulder. "Do you believe in my legend? I have defended my nation 23 times against a superior enemy that always outnumbered me. Never once I have lost." His serene voice boomed. "Trust me and I swear on my name that my homeland will remain safe while I still live!"
Any concern Cha Hae-In or the other Hunters might have had was banished. They solemnly nodded their heads and quickly made their way through the Gate.
"Master, I suggest you also retreat."
Shaking my head, "We need eyes here to know what the monsters are up to. I am the only one that can do that safely."
"Mas–"
"Don't force me to use a Command spell!" I admonished.
"If that is your wish… Please don't do anything risky…"
I chuckled wryly. The last thing to say to me was don't do anything risky as I had long learned in my previous human life. Sadly when that word was mentioned to me was when I had to do the exact opposite because I had to save someone.
Shaking my head, I watched as Yi Sun Shin was the last to leave. It didn't surprise me that the Korean Servant had left behind his Geobukseon. The divine turtle roared as it blocked the Gate with its body.
The monsters didn't charge at the divine turtle immediately. They started to treat their wounded and collect their dead. Some remained on guard, surrounding the Geobukseon but standing well outside the range of the divine turtle's head and legs.
Given what I had seen before, it was obvious that the Geobukseon could attack. The dragon head could easily spew out fire or poisonous gas from thirty meters from what I have seen so far. I was willingly to bet that if Geobukseon hadn't Yi Sun Shin to buy time, it would have gone on the offensive.
My eyes turned to monsters that had just joined in with the monsters that had fought the retreated Hunters. I had been right to assume they had been the vanguard. These new monsters were not just ogres, but consisted of goblins and orcs. The bulk of the cannon fodder for the army formed before my eyes.
I turned to gaze upon where the most elite, dangerous and equipped monsters were gathering. Surrounding by bodyguards, I spotted what was likely the Dungeon Boss. It stood heights and shoulders above the A-ranked Ogre Kings. The amount of mana it gave of was several times more than Cha Hae-In gave off. If the histories of the Hunters and korena soldiers equipment was anything to go by this was at the minimum an S-rank monster, or possibly higher.
It was obvious what I needed to do. Cut off the head of the snake.
This might not end the threat as there was bound to be some sort of leader to raise to take control of the situation, but every little result added up. Hopefully, my actions would wipe out a great deal of the gathering army and buy time for Yi Sun Shin to employ his legendary skills as a military commander.
A regretful sigh escaped my lips. I had wanted to escape the Reverse Side of the World, but it seemed my first attempt had turned into a short vacation. Well, I could attempt again to reach the Human World. Time wasn't something I worried about anymore given my lifespan as a dragon.
My body shifted. I was too young, by dragon standards, to have grown or honed the natural draconic abilities that made dragons the most feared Phantasmal Species beneath the Divine Spirits.
Thankfully, I had my past life to help. As my bone and flesh shifted and changed, I reached for the most powerful weapon I could produce. It eagerly answered my call from my Reality Marble and manifested.
I held the sword well above my head like a certain wife of my human life. Golden light gathered and the invisibility spell hiding my presence disappeared as I prepared my weapon.
"EXCALIBUR!"
- O -
Outside, Arturia Pendragon looked at the condor established by the Korean military and all the Hunters they could gather to prevent the Gangnam Gate from Dungeon Breaking.
"Thank you for coming, Miss Pendragon." A muscular old man with gray hair, greenish-gray eyes bowed to Arturia. "South Korea is extremely grateful that you mobilized the Round Table of the Camelot Guild at our emergency request for assistance. If Seoul manages to survive the Dungeon Break of the S-rank Gate I will do everything in my power to repay your guild."
"You don't have to thank me, President Go Gunhee. The Camelot Guild cannot just stand idly by when millions of innocent civilians' lives are at risk." Arturia's calm words cut through the chaotic sounds like a hot knife through butter. "We can discuss about the payment aft–"
Her eyes narrowed as she felt something that should be impossible. That energy she had felt couldn't have appeared. Only three items able to produce that energy existed, and all of them were on her body. Emerald eyes attempted to peer through the Gate.
"My Knights!" Arturia announced and instantly the Round Table appeared, kneeling before their liege. "It seems we will not be waiting on the defensive as we had originally planned. We will Raid the Dungeon at once!"
"Yes, your highness!" shouted the Knights of the Round Table as they got stood up and followed their liege, who had already jumped into the air in the direction of the Gangnam Gate.
Korean Hunter Association President Go Gunhee, and the rest of the people, could only watch in disbelief as the widely believed second coming of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table plunged into the suspected S-rank Gate that was possibly going to dungeon break within hours.
What do you guys think about what you read? Is it good, bad or meh? Any recommendations to improve? Please let me know.
Thank you for reading!