City Atop A Sacred Beast

Hello everyone and welcome to the latest chapter of Armory of the Forgotten Hero! First off, apologies on this chapter being as late as it is despite being somewhat short. Was celebrating a birthday this weekend and I'm still figuring out a few things about book marketing. That's right, for those who haven't heard yet I'm a self-published author on Amazon Kindle now with my story 'Plains Riders'! If you've got a sudden craving for straightforward Sci Fi action, then it might just be the story you're looking for. Anyway, rambled on long enough, and with no apparent Guest Review questions this week, let's dive on in!

Camp of the Allied Forces

Expectations are a funny thing sometimes. More often than not they're either exceeded, met, or were lower than one would've anticipated. Darius's expectations, though, were in a funny place where events had fallen short of said expectations, but also exceeded them. The reason being that when he and Rifana had hopped on Johann's back and sped towards the Spirit Tortoise with Filo, Naofumi, and Raphtalia right beneath them, they'd all been expecting the fight of their lives. When they actually got there and found the beast had apparently been killed already through decapitation, the group was filled with more than a little relief. Yet at the same time, Darius couldn't help but feel a little disappointed that they hadn't gotten to fight the sacred beast.

Though that was probably just his inner Natsu Dragneel or Goku talking which was really something he didn't need to be focusing on right now. The more pressing matter was getting the magic unit together to set up an expedition to the top, or at least near the top, of the Spirit Tortoise. But first, they needed to deal with the current mob of cheering soldiers. "THEY DID IT!" Exclaimed basically every warrior and general at the camp, "THE SHIELD AND ARMORY HEROES DEFEATED THE SPIRIT TORTOISE!"

'We probably shouldn't have led with the Spirit Tortoise is dead,' mused Darius as he and Naofumi tried to get through to the rest of their parties. Naturally that was more than a little difficult with the crowd of armed men cheering and giving them slightly painful pats on the back. And the moment they got in the center of all the commotion, the gathered troops decided it was a good idea to grab them and lift them up for everyone to see. "Hold on, we didn't do it," exclaimed Naofumi as they were being carried along, "WE'RE NOT THE ONES WHO DEFEATED THE SPIRIT TORTOISE!"

But the soldiers still couldn't, or simply refused, to hear them over the sound of their own cheering voices. That is until the ground suddenly cracked open beneath several of them. The two heroes and the gathered troops all fell into a heap then with the shouting and cheering turning into much quieter grunts and groans. "Look at you all, letting it get to your heads so easily," scolded Grilaroc as she removed her hand from the part of the ground she'd just struck with her Ki, "be silent and listen to what the heroes have to say."

"Thanks Grilaroc," groaned Darius as he and Naofumi untangled themselves from the mass of armored bodies.

"Alright," said Naofumi as he dusted himself off and cleared his throat, "the Spirit Tortoise was already dead when we got there. I don't know who exactly did it, but they managed to sever its entire head from its body."

"Then it was probably the other three heroes," suggested one of the soldiers before another spoke up, "they were supposed to be close by, right? Why don't we bring them here and ask them?!"

"We have already been doing that," said the Queen's Shadow who seemingly appeared in the crowd with two other Shadows on either side of her, "we couldn't find them anywhere in the surrounding area. The only place we haven't checked is the Tortoise itself but the large number of bats still flying around have prevented us from getting too close."

"But the Spirit Tortoise is still dead!" Exclaimed another soldier as more began to speak up, "that's right! It doesn't change the fact that the town is safe!" Naofumi sighed before whispering the next part to Darius.

"I really want to believe that thing is dead," he said, "but this whole thing is still kind of nagging at me. What do you think of all this?"

"Well I'm fairly certain we can rule out the Three Heroes on the decapitation unless they got insanely lucky," replied Darius, "There is one other group I can think of that'd be capable of something like that, though, and they're not from around here."

"Glass's group," agreed Naofumi, "L'arc's ability to increase his attack in proportion to his enemy's defense would've been perfect against an opponent like the Spirit Tortoise. It would also explain why there's no one around taking credit for it, at least for the most part."

"And you're also seeing what I'm seeing, right," said Darius as they both opened their HUDs and looked in the corner.

"Unfortunately," affirmed the Shield Hero, "and given what the Shadows just told us, there's still some activity going on there."

"Guess it's time to be buzzkills," said Darius as he and Naofumi both let out a sigh before getting the other soldier's attention.

"Alright everyone quiet down!" Ordered the Shield Hero, "as much as we'd all like too it's not the time to celebrate just yet. The Spirit Tortoise's familiars are still flying around and the countdown to the next Wave is still frozen. This means our job isn't quite finished. We still need to go investigate and make sure the threat has been permanently dealt with!" A number of soldiers paled at the thought of this, no doubt wishing they didn't have to go anywhere near it.

Darius couldn't blame them. After all, the only thing worse than a giant mountain-sized beast that tramples whole cities is a zombified giant beast that tramples whole cities. Still, it was a job that needed to be done, something the Queen would understand quite clearly as she came out of the main tent to see what was going on. "What seems to be the situation?"

"The Spirit Tortoise is immobile," explained Darius, "it's not quite how we expected it but we got our opening. Now we need to get the magic unit on its back."

"We're also going to need the Shadows to form a search team," added Naofumi, "we suspect that the ones we fought in the last Wave might be hanging around this area."

"And you believe they may have also had something to do with the sudden halting of the sacred beast?" The Queen more stated than asked.

"It's our leading theory so far," replied Darius, "we're just gonna have to go and see how our luck turns out." Though deep down, everyone knew their luck would probably turn out the usual way.

Some Time Later: The Back of the Spirit Tortoise

"It's really kind of strange in a way," noted Raphtalia as she and everyone else slowly walked along the mountainside, "after climbing for a while, it seems like we're not on the back of a giant beast at all."

"I'm almost reminded of home, myself," commented Izumi, looking straight out over the drop off and not showing an ounce of fear at the great height, "if not for there being fewer trails."

"I'm more concerned with whether or not we're currently on the 'right' trail," said Naofumi as he glanced at Rishia, "Is there really a path to the inside of the Spirit Tortoise up this way?"

"There should be," she replied while leafing through a worn book. It must've been quite absorbing because more than once now Figneria had to pull her away from the edge of the trail where a long drop-off was at.

"'Should be,'?" Repeated Naofumi with an annoyed look on his face.

"The story doesn't really give any precise directions to the inside of the Spirit Tortoise," explained Rishia before suddenly getting a little excited, "but that's why, I brought an old journal with me!"

"Will that really give more specific directions," the Shield Hero mused aloud with a sigh.

"It will probably be the best we're going to get," Éclair pointed out, "Reiki doesn't appear to have had good diplomatic relations with its neighboring countries. In fact, they appear to have been so isolated that even the countries on their borders didn't know much about their state of affairs."

"Makes me wonder whether or not they were keeping a bunch of secrets," Rifana thought aloud as they reached the top of the trail and found a massive oriental-looking gate with a circular entrance waiting for them.

"That looks like a city entrance if I've ever seen one," commented Darius as he and everyone else took a moment to admire the structure, noting that it had doors on either side. 'Must've been a checkpoint along with being an entrance and exit,' surmised the Armory Hero.

"This is my first time seeing a building like this," said Raphtalia, impressed by the oriental design of it.

"I've seen gates like this before," noted Naofumi, "they call this a 'Chinese style' gate."

"And it's mentioned in the journal too!" Exclaimed Rishia as she looked up and down excitedly, "it's just the entry gate, but up ahead is the city. We're sure to find something there!" No one saw any reason to question this line of thought, and so they continued their trek onwards. On the upside, they were now in a part of the mountain that didn't have a dropoff on either side of them. On the downside, however, was that something literally smelled off about where they were approaching.

"Master," said Filo after sniffing the air a bit, "something smells."

"Are you picking up the scents of any monsters," questioned Naofumi with a glance back in her direction.

"No, nothing like that," replied Filo, "something just smells really bad up ahead."

"You know I never thought to mention it before but how is it that giant birds have such a good sense of smell here?" Asked Darius. "Back in my world birds can't smell hardly that well at all."

"Guess it's a physiology thing," said Naofumi with a shrug, "but since we're bringing up scents, do you have a second opinion on what that smell is, Johann?"

"It's something I know I've smelled often enough, but it isn't usually this strong," said Johann as they entered the city, "it's death." His meaning became all too clear as they gazed at the mass of destroyed buildings, all of which were Chinese style in design. In fact, the only one that seemed to be anywhere close to fully intact was a large, Chinese-style palace or temple much further back. And among all the wreckage were dozens if not hundreds of dead and decaying corpses.

Everyone let out a collection of gasps and groans as they covered their noses with more than a couple wretching from the horrid stench. "Master Naofumi….these people," gasped Raphtalia as the smell assaulted her nostrils.

"They were probably among the first ones to be used as incubators for creating the Tortoise's familiars," agreed the Shield Hero.

"Cloth face coverings everyone!" Ordered Darius as he summoned his Imitator mask over his face. It wasn't meant to block out contamoninants or anything like that, but it had its own unique smell that helped keep out the stench of decay. The rest of their parties, save for Johann and Filo, the magic unit and soldiers accompanying them did as ordered, using whatever pieces of cloth they had as improvised filters against the smell.

"There don't seem to be any familiars here right now but don't let your guard down," said Naofumi as he turned to issue his next order, "now let's get to investigating!" A series of affirmatives answered him in response as they all spread out, searching for any sort of information they could find on the sacred beast.

"All of this is just…...awful," said Rifana as they made their way through the destroyed city, "how in the world could a creature with 'sacred' as part of its title create things like those familiars?"

"Hopefully that's something we'll be able to find out while we're here," replied the Armory Hero steadily as they stepped over some more corpses and up to a large temple which reminded Darius more of a Chinese mansion than anything. Though despite his calm demeanor, Figneria didn't miss the whiteknuckle grip he had on his current chosen weapon, a kriegsmesser sword.

"Perhaps when this monster is dealt with, we should see that those in this city receive at least some form of a proper burial," suggested Izumi.

"If we're lucky enough that this city's remains will still be intact at the end of all this, then I believe that would be a fine idea," said Figneria as they entered what they could now identify as a temple. Naofumi and his party were investigating the front door since Rishia had the journal. That left them to enter through another doorway to see if there might be anything of value in that particular section. 'Seems like an ordinary enough temple,' mused Darius as he ran his hand along some of the pictures on the walls, 'though it looks like the citizens of Reiki, despite being atop it, didn't worship the Spirit Tortoise as their principal deity.'

At least that was his theory based on the image of a figure who had ram and deer horns sprouting out of their head and some kind of flame taking up the background behind them. "Figneria," said Darius, "you didn't happen to bring anyone from Koteraan's historical team, did you?"

"Unfortunately, I didn't," replied Figneria, "the soldiers in the character costumes along with a few others were all I brought. I hadn't known at the time that we'd be in such desperate need for researchers."

"Koteraan has a historical team?" Questioned Izumi with a tilt of her head.

"It was their idea," explained Rifana, "ever since we helped liberate them from their own rebel forces and got things back on track, they've been dead set on honoring the Armory Hero. Part of that was putting together a historical team to hunt down every last little piece of information they could find on the previous Armory Heroes. Come to think of it, they'd probably love to have a chat with your clan where you could tell them about your time with the previous Armory Hero."

"Well we do share a common interest," said Izumi as she took Darius's arm in hers, "I'd like to learn more about the Armory Hero too."

"I guess I can tell you one detail about me right this moment," he said, trying to remain professional despite his arm being sandwiched between her breasts, "I like history, and not just because we need to find out how to put a permanent stop to a mountain carrying beast either. Do you happen to have any archeological skills yourself, Izumi?"

"I was taught to be analytical, if that helps," replied the Horned Girl, "for example, if I were the builders of this temple, I'd likely keep the story of the country's founding further back." Rifana was about to ask how far back when a group of soldiers carrying several decorated basins along with a whole chest of who knew what came running out of the largest passageway. The reason they were running became clear shortly afterwards as Éclair, Filo and Grilaroc went chasing after them.

"I suppose we should've expected at least a few of the soldiers would try pocketing something," noted Figneria.

"Assholes," said Rifana darkly as Darius noted her fists clenched tightly. 'That's right, it was a bunch of scumbag soldiers who raided her and Raphtalia's village,' the Armory Hero recalled. He nodded to Izumi who took the hint and released his right arm while he put his left around Rifana's shoulders.

"If you want, you can chase after them and join Filo and the others in the beatdown," he said to her softly, "then you can meet back up with us for the rest of the search later."

"I appreciate it Darius, really," she said before pulling her cloth mask down and pecking him on the cheek, "but we've got more important things to worry about right now. Besides, Filo will chase them down before any of us can even get there."

"Wanna bet," said Johann as he changed into his dragon form, "I can fly around this whole place blasting looters. That bird's got nothin' on me!"

"Then why don't you go help them," suggested the Armory Hero, "nothing says 'stay away from treasure' like an angry dragon bearing down on ya."

"Damn right," said Johann as he took to the air, "this treasure trove is mine!" He easily flew through a hole in the ceiling and went after the fleeing looters, spitting the occasional bit of fire and lightning at some others he spotted attempting to do the same.

"While I don't usually advise letting Johann give in to the more greedy side of his dragon nature, I suppose it has its uses on occasion," said Figneria.

"Yeah but he's probably gonna be disappointed when I tell him we can't keep most of this stuff," said Darius as they entered one of the more central rooms of the temple. That's where they bumped into Rishia.

"Oh, there you all are," she said, "I thought I heard Johann taking off a moment ago."

"He's decided that he doesn't like people looting here," explained Rifana, "less treasure for him."

"Ordinarily I'd find that troubling," said Rishia as they followed her into a main room where Naofumi and Raphtalia currently were, "but what's more troubling is this building. It won't last much longer and if it collapses, everything here will be lost."

"Does that mean you're a supporter of looting, Rishia," said Naofumi, causing her to jump at the implication.

"WHAT! N-NO!" She said with more than a little red in her face before calming down, "these, so many of these are cultural assets. They're some of the only things we're able to use to hear the voices of the people from the past. If not for such things as this journal we might never have made it this far. So I at least want them to be treated with great care."

"She's not wrong," said Darius, "the more we know about the ancient customs and practices of this world, the better off we'll probably be."

"Guess that means we'll be adding history studies to our training after this," said Naofumi, "but I can think of worst subjects than that, so at least it's not too terrible."

"And speaking of which," Rishia said as she pointed towards another doorway she'd just come from, "I think I found a really interesting subject." Said subject happening to be what they might've been looking for, a large mural depicting the Spirit Tortoise, several warriors and magic users, and what must've been the previous four heroes.

"Amazing," said Raphtalia, "it looks like it's depicting a story, but I can't read any of the characters."

"It doesn't help that they've deteriorated a lot either," said Naofumi as he examined a section of the mural with writing on it.

"It might be describing the method that was used to seal the Spirit Tortoise before," suggested Rishia, "if the town's people were alive, they might've known something."

"Better question is whether or not the other Three Heroes made it here," said Naofumi.

"Doubtful," said Darius, "if those three had actually succeeded in stopping the Spirit Tortoise they would've been on their way back already to gloat. Unless they died chopping its head off or something."

"They're probably still inside the Spirit Tortoise," surmised Rishia, "since we still don't know the exact specifics for sealing it just yet, who's to say it doesn't take a long time."

"The least they could've done is left some sort of note behind if they had," said Naofumi before noticing Raphtalia was staring at something, "what is it?"

"Master Naofumi," said Raphtalia as she pointed to a section near the bottom-right of the mural, "the characters on that writing are different from the others." Both the Shield and Armory Hero's eyes widened as they moved in for a closer look.

"That's…terrific," said Naofumi with actual glee, "this writing, is Japanese!"

"Japa-whaaat?" Asked Rishia in clear confusion.

"Japanese," offered Darius, "from the country of Japan. That's Naofumi's home in his world."

"The language of the heroes," said Izumi as she took a closer look, "are you also able to read this 'Japanese', Sir Darius?"

"Believe me I really wish I did know how to read Japanese," replied the Armory Hero, "but the land I hail from is known as America and the language we speak and write is known as English. Heck, if not for our cardinal weapon's translation abilities, it's likely Naofumi and I wouldn't understand more than a few of the words the other was saying."

"That's right," said Izumi, "the previous Armory Hero is said to have hailed from a different land than the other heroes. Perhaps it's another one of the ways the Armory Hero is unique."

"I guess it is weird when you consider the trillions of people the summoning ritual can choose from and it somehow winds up picking four Japanese people more than ninety percent of the time," commented Naofumi, "but let's get back on track." The Shield Hero began examining the script, noting that it was more than a little worn like the rest of the mural. "It looks like the gist of the message is a warning from the past heroes to not release the seal, though it's pretty jumbled."

"Do we really need to review the last time a certain shaft boy and his party ignored a clearly written warning sign sitting right next to the evil seed they got," quipped Rifana.

"I think we're already dealing with them ignoring the warning sign," said Darius, "any chance that warning comes with instructions for just in case the seal is broken?"

"Let's see," mused Naofumi, "it says: 'to bring about a sacrifice will also be for the world's sake'. It's the same thing Fitoria said."

"So it appears that a sacrifice may be required to stop the Spirit Tortoise," said Figneria, "but that only explains part of what she said. Is there anything specific about the instructions for the seal?"

"I think this part says 'the seal will be broken by the seventh'," read Naofumi before putting a hand to his chin, "seven? I wonder if it has anything to do with the number seven hourglass on our displays?" He read a little further, though found most of it to be near indecipherable due to age. "It seems to be talking about numbers near the end, I can make out the characters for eight and hero."

"Aren't there only supposed to be four cardinal heroes with the fifth appearing only during a time of great imbalance?" Questioned Rifana.

"I don't know about the '8'," said Rishia, "but the '7' may be referring to the tale of the Seven Star Heroes."

"Who are the Seven Star Heroes?" Questioned Raphtalia.

"Apparently they're heroes hailing from seven clans," explained Darius, "much like the Cardinal Heroes they also have powerful weapons that can level up. Unlike the Cardinal Heroes, they all hail from this world and anyone can become a Seven Star Hero if they're selected by the head of one of the seven clans."

"Betcha they can also refuse the offer of the weapon too," grumbled Naofumi.

"And how is it you know of the Seven Star Heroes?" Questioned Figneria as she looked between Darius and Naofumi.

"The Queen gave us the basic rundown a few weeks back," explained Darius, "though with all the ruckus going on it's apparently been near impossible to locate them."

"I don't think we need to worry too much about that," said Rishia, "even if we don't know the whereabouts of the Seven Star Heroes, it was the Cardinal Heroes who sealed the Spirit Tortoise in the story."

"Still, I think we figured something out," said Naofumi, "I'm not all that surprised to learn that there are even more heroes we didn't know about, and it's been a long time since I last saw Japanese. But I'm pretty sure this person knew or discovered the purpose of the Spirit Tortoise and that's why they sealed it instead of killing it all those centuries ago." It was a good theory, but before anyone could comment further on it, the ground began to quake.

"MASTER NAOFUMI!" Exclaimed Raphtalia as she looked up and saw the ceiling cracking above them. The Shield Hero moved quickly and deflected the rubble headed towards his party while Darius conjured multiple shields above his.

"Rifana, bash us a way out of here!" Ordered The Armory Hero as they began to sprint towards the nearest wall.

"On it!" She said while imbuing her mace with earth magic and swinging. The wall crumbled under the might of her blow as the group hurried outside, just managing to avoid the collapsing ceiling. 'Now what,' thought Darius with annoyance at the sudden turn of events, 'don't tell me this thing is still alive somehow.' He'd find the answer to that question to be a bit more complicated than he thought.

Seems that comment about a zombified Sacred Beast might not have been as far off as Darius thought it was. Is the disturbance the reawakening of the Spirit Tortoise, or something else entirely? All this and more in the next chapter, so in the meantime, feel free to leave a comment or review about what you liked/disliked or if you've got any neat ideas for future chapters. Be sure to stop in next time as our heroes set out for a new destination in their continuing investigation of the Spirit Tortoise. And don't forget to check out my new book, Plains Riders, on Amazon Kindle. 'Til then.