Chapter 33

Eyes still stinging from finally getting to see my family again, Tetsu and I headed towards the sounds of combat. As we rounded the side of the mountain path, I spotted a few dozen of 'the enemy'. Already engaging some of Ake's knights, were some lizard men. The Shield, in its usual unasked for way of helping, pointed a little arrow down at their heads and marked them as 'Shadow Assault Lizardman'. Not a terrible name for a bunch of smoke scaled bipedal lizards who were swinging around two handed swords or using a sword and shield.

None of them had anything 'special' on them, like marks of rank or extra feathers on what little clothing they wore, so my conclusion? Trash mob. Much like the zombies had been during the last wave.

"Up above!" Tetsu said as she lowered herself into a four legged gallop, "They look bite sized! Can I eat them?"

I looked up, and crawling along the cliffs above were dusky skinned goblins. Three out of four worlds (though, I'd never met a Goblin from Earth so maybe it was four of four) had a pretty standard looking goblin. Even the Shield agreed, tagging them all with 'Shadow Assault Goblin' as my eyes ran over them and counted numbers. Unlike the Orario version, some of these had bows, and all of them had a metal weapon of some kind, mostly daggers. And yes, both the Goblins and Lizard-men had 'inter-dimensional' tags.

"Let me jump off first!" I said down to her, "Be careful, don't eat any metal." I couldn't stop her from wanting to eat every monster we came across, but I could at least warn her to watch out for things harder than bone that she might bite down on. "Go!"

I braced my hands on her back, hopped up so my feet touched her saddle, then pushed backwards. As I hit the peak of my jump, I waved an Air Strike Shield into the space in front and above Tetsu, and she jumped a heartbeat later, propelling herself high into the air, onto the phantom Shield, then up to the ledges above.

I landed behind the ranks of Lizardmen, and she landed on the path above, and together we started fighting.

"Sir!" It was Ake. He called out to me, then went right back to the business of leading his team, "Hold ranks! Spears behind Shields!"

Ake and two others, all with sword an shield, braced against the incoming attacks, while behind them, two knights with spears stabbed between Ake and his fellow's shoulders. A little unconventional, but I could already see their armour and shields were taking a beating. They needed to focus everything on one or the other.

The first monster I got with arm's reach almost threw me off him as soon as I grabbed its elbow. Strong! VERY strong! But as it turned to bring its sword around, I gave it a jumping uppercut with my Poison Bee Sting Shield. Momentum and the mild toxin spilled it onto its back, and Ake knelt down and gave its throat an extra airway.

"Where's my party?" I asked, switching to the Rope Shield as I hopped over a swing at my kneecaps. "What's your plan?!"

My jump carried me over the Lizard's head, and my rope looped around its throat as I went over. Ake replied with, "We're in a fighting withdrawal! They went up the path towards the nearest satellite town!"

"Where is your mage?!" My feet braced against the small of the monster's back, and I felt it shiver as it was run through by at least one spear. Without checking if it was dead, I switched the Shield to the Black Dog Shield, landed in a crouch, and stopped a huge overhand swing from another lizardman. I felt it right to my hips, but the two dog heads came alive and latched on to the monster before it could raise its blade again.

"They escorted her up," He paused and grunted as he parried a tail, "the slope a little!" Ake shouted back, "She's picking off those little guys with bows!"

The monster my Shield was holding in place threw off the two biting dog heads with a roar of frustration, but as soon as his arms went wide I snapped a kick into its chin. It rocked back, falling into another one, and giving Ake's spearmen an opening. "Good! I'll get you some help then, get you a little further up the hill!"

"We'd appreciate it!" Ake laughed, the two knights beside him stepping in front of him to hold back a huge double handed swing, "YA!" He shouted as the shield bearers rocked back and away from him, his own sword cleaving through one of the monster's arms.

"TETSU!" I shouted, jumping on the back of the one Ake just cut, putting my knee to the back of its neck, lacing my fingers under its chin, and heaving backwards.

There was crackle of bone under my knee, and I got a bunch of little messages in my status window.

Level up!

You are now level 40!

Shield of the Black Hunter Unlocked!

Shield of the Golden Harvest Unlocked!

Shield of the Silver Guardian Unlocked!

Raccoon Shield Unlocked!

I couldn't help myself, and I started laughing. Of course, Ake's knights thought I was laughing at the big dragon who landed next to me, a goblin in her mouth, one in each clawed hand, and covered in the dark black/red blood they used. "YES! I am here! These guys taste terrible!"

"So why are you eating them?" I asked, blocking another lizardman's sword, then watching it get knocked over by a thrown goblin corpse.

"Cause I can!" Tetsu laughed, throwing the second goblin, then "RAWR!"-ing as she pounced the downed lizardman and just pulled it to bits with her four sets of claws.

"Help these guys. Fighting retreat up to the place we treated the miners! You remember?" I tossed an Air Strike Shield out, a wave of goblin arrows shattering on it.

"But I hate fighting retreats!"

"Just until you get there, then it will be a fighting advance up the mountain to the tree!" I looked at the cliff Tetsu had just been on, then watched a fireball slam down onto it, sending goblin bodies over the side like child sized bits of charcoal. "Understand?"

"Fine!" Tetsu pouted, "But I want..." She paused as she thought, but only for a moment so she could pick up a lizardman by the leg and toss him like a Frisbee back down the path, "That thing you do! With Usa! That makes him sleepy!"

"Sure! After we get back!" I looked to Ake, "Just clean up what she knocks over! Gotta run!"

"Yes Sir! Good hunting!"

For being so young, Ake was a very good leader. Either that, he had excellent teachers and was an attentive student. I kind of wanted to meet his mentor. A lot of the things I did in the dungeon, like the 'fighting retreat' or 'break and break through' were things he knew! Sure, he called them something a little different, but he was, by far, the most competent knight I'd seen in my limited time here.

If it weren't for the King hating me, I'd try and have him promoted. I was right to take a chance on trusting this guy.

That said, our backwards march up the hill brought us into contact with his second squad and my party. Not only that, two other familiar faces. The first, was the blacksmith I'd dealt with during the 'medicinal soup' cook out in the little mining town below Mirso. He and Ake's second team were guarding the natural 'door' to the town.

The second one however, shocked me enough I nearly got hit with one of the lizard man swords. It was the old lady I'd healed just a little further on from here, the mother of the man who stopped us. That however wasn't the surprise.

The surprise, was she was kicking all kinds of ass, with her bare hands! She was fighting back to back with Raphtalia, weaving around her with a fighting style someplace between Wing-Chun and Karate. Smooth almost liquid movements and blocks, followed by solid straight punches and kicks. Not only that, I could tell she was using her own Chi, or this world's version, to empower herself.

"So that's the Shield Hero huh?" She laughed as I narrowly avoided the slash from the lizard man. "I thought you said... Oh that's better."

Of course, I couldn't help myself in showing off a little to make a good impression. I went into a low crouch, spun in a quarter turn to put my knee to the monster's shin, then stood up as fast as I could. Lifted off one leg, I drove my elbow into its back to throw it to the ground, then let someone else kill it (one of Ake's spear men).

"He is very good with his bare hands." Raphtalia said as she swung her normal blade through a goblin's throat, backed off a half step to let a huge axe slam into the ground by her feet, then a full step forward to put the point of her sword through the offending lizard-man's eye.

"You don't say..." The Elder lady mused, obliterating a goblin's head with a double palm strike, "What about the other heroes then? They get lost?"

"They went around the other side and up. There's some kind of ghost ship in the air, and it's probably where the boss is." I replied, taking up my usual role of 'tank' while Raphtalia and now the Elder flanked me. "Usa? Clive?"

"Waiting for the order to continue up!" Raphtalia replied.

"Okay. We'll make sure Ake's knights can hold here, then head towards my tree."

This time it was the Elder who nearly got swatted by a stray sword swing, "Your Tree? You put that there?"

"You're welcome, Honoured Elder." I smiled.

It took about a half an hour for us to secure the town. They didn't have any guards really, but all the men worked in the mines and had the muscle to show for it. With them, Ake's knights and my party, we thinned out the initial rush of monsters from the Wave, and they got themselves barricaded.

That done, and some of my medicine left behind to help Ake's two mages (almost every mage could use the most basic of healing magic if they tried though aptitude effected efficiency). We also left Melty there, since the longer she was with us, the greater chance of her being discovered as part of my party.

On the way up to Mirso proper, the Elder and I had some interesting conversation between moments of combat.

"Hengen Musou?" I asked, "Explains how you're so spry." I left of the 'at your age' since I didn't want to get kicked in the shin or something.

"Ha! No, that's because my level and my age are the same!" We then put the chat on hold as another group bore down on us.

"You're wasting so much effort when you do that!" She said after we tore through that mob, "Good grip on style, but you're trying so hard for so little!"

"The magic in this world tastes funny." I defended myself, "And you have no idea how much I lost when I was brought here..." That said, I could feel my attempts at Senjitsu getting easier with every step towards my tree.

"Bah! Excuses!"

My party could only laugh nervously at that.

"You! Watch your feet!" The Elder grumbled at Tetsu.

"Sorry! You can ride on my back if you want!"

"What? You think I'm old?!"

"You are, aren't you?"

"Well yes." the Elder admitted.

"I was taught to always respect my elders! But... I'm... Boss? How old am I?"

"Why are you so quiet?"

"Buzz...click?"

"Yes you!"

Kunshu, even without the ability to change her facial expression, seemed to pout a little.

"Well, don't sneak up on me! Hearing isn't what it used to be!"

"You're really handy with that whip! Best I've ever seen!" She complemented Usa.

And to my surprise, he made a joke of it. "It's the only hand I can use. So I should be... right?"

"You'd have made an amazing gladiator back in my day!"

It gave me second hand warm fuzzy feelings to see Usa glow at the praise.

"How are you doing that?" She asked Clive, "I thought only the Legendary Bow could do that without some kind of spell!"

Helplessly, Clive replied with a demonstration, touching the knuckle of his hand holding the bow string to the dragon core/thread crystal amalgam, then pulling back to make a magic arrow. He then looked to me.

"You made this?" She was impressed. "You're just full of surprises! If we weren't knee deep in monsters right now, I'd offer you a lesson!"

"When we aren't knee deep in monsters, I will ask for one, Honoured Elder." I bowed, surprising her with my 'fist in palm' bow. "We're almost to Mirso though. And of course... it's under siege..."

Mirso, as a town, had the advantage of a high stone wall, cliff faces where it wasn't stone block, and having very little 'above' it that monsters could use to climb over. However, when the monsters fell from the sky, or had a berserk mentality that made them fearless, these things only helped delay the inevitable.

As we rounded the last corner towards the main gate we'd entered the first time we came here, we saw a handful of defenders on top of the wall using spears and bows to keep the goblins from scaling the walls and surrounding cliffs. However, there was very little they could do against the lizard-men hammering at the thick wooden gate. They were tough and resisted the arrows and spears from 'low levelled' people.

We could also see several small pillars of smoke from inside the walls, but, they looked under control from where we were.

"Let's get to work then. Clive? Announce our presence for us? Kunshu?" I handed her a bag from the Shield, "Hand this to the guy there with the nice helmet, then help defend the walls with them. Usa, Raptalia? You're on Tetsu, get to the right flank, work inwards together. The nice lady and I will work from the other side."

Now that we were within sight of my tree (though, it was up a hill from here, and I could only see a few of the upper branches) I could feel the harmony in the air. Not nearly as nice at Kyoto felt (before the Hero Faction nonsense), but it felt less like this world, and more like home. Maybe if I got a Torii set up...

"Think you can keep up with me then?" The Elder teased.

"I will do my best." I said seriously.

I was just starting to wonder if the goblins and lizard-men were the only 'mobs' this time, when I saw a cloud of... something... coming towards us from the north. Just before the Elder and I hit the back of the left flank of the monsters attacking the wall of Mirso, my ever so helpful status screen marked them as 'Inter-dimensional Dark Condor'.

"Don't get distracted now!" The Elder teased. "Feels good to be fighting again, but my old bones are going to be sore later!"

"We have incoming flying... things." I reported, opening up the Book Shield then turning to a marked page. "I will limit their angles of approach and destroy their footing."

"A mage too? Sounds good though!"

The first spell I cast wasn't offence, or support, but instead a version of Raphtalia's light spell. A simple manipulation of the last couple of words allowed me to change the colour, and an already well practised change of how much mana I fed the spell changed its brightness. Today's signal? A soft blue flare that went straight up.

Behind us, likely hiding under his camouflage cloak of enchanted dog fur, Clive switched his targets from the monsters attacking the door (of which he'd already killed four in the minute or so the rest of us had been charging), to the oncoming rush of monsters in the air. And as I flipped pages to my collection of ice and earth spells from the 'beginner's book of magic', I heard Kunshu's wings hit a fever pitch, and spotted her jumping into the air.

Then the Elder hit the ranks of monsters, and I had to pay attention to only her.

She was a blur. For someone her age, she was pretty incredible. But using various ice spells to distract and lock monsters in place, earth spells to blind or trip, and the occasional Air Strike Shield to give her a moment or two to snap a neck or something...

I was incredibly jealous. I wanted to be up there, doing what she was. It was what I was good at! But no, this stupid world had locked me into either a gimmick fighter or 'the tank'.

But.

I was a professional. Jealous or not, limited or not, I told the nice lady I'd cover her back, so that's what I did.

Even with my high mana and SP (Stamina points? Skill points? Special Points?) I eventually had to rush forward and literally cover the Elder's back, putting myself in the way directly so she could fight without worry of being overwhelmed.

Thankfully, it wasn't long after that before someone called from the top of the wall, "We're clear enough! Open the gate!"

There was a shout of, "Yes Sir!" then a couple more wordless shouts as the heavy door swung out, opening up just enough for my party and I to charge through.

"Sir Hero. It is good to see you again." Someone said the instant I got through.

Tetsu, covered in minor scuffs and LOTS of monster blood did a happy little dance in place, "It's the nice church person! Maybe don't pat my head right now... I'm very dirty."

"Sir, are you hurt?" Usa asked, coming over to the Elder and I.

"Just a little tired." I replied. "Thank you for letting us in." I said to the Priest. "Busy day?"

"We've been fending them off since the Wave started, but thanks to our ancestors and good stone walls, we've had almost no injuries." He replied, giving Tetsu a pat on the head anyhow, but his hand also glowed with healing light. "What of the other heroes?"

I could tell everyone near enough to hear me was listening intently for my answer. "They went up the other side of the mountain, to try and deal with some kind of flying ship. They think it's the key to ending this Wave."

"grrclick?" Clive asked, seeming to appear out of the wall, his fur cape mimicking the lines of the brickwork as well as the colour.

The handful of soldiers almost jumped out of their skin, but some of them had seen him before when we were here last time. "We'll be heading up the path to the Tree. It's not the closest we can get, but I hope it's close enough."

The Priest nodded, "We will do our best to hold the walls then and hope for the swift resolution to the Wave." He smiled, then seemed to notice the Elder next to me. "Ah, you're still alive then."

"Still got some excitement to live through!" She laughed back, "I'll stay here and help. Say, you there? Can I borrow that sword?"

I looked around, "Kunshu!"

There was a buzz, then a puff of dust as Kunshu landed in a perfect superhero crouch next to me. Again, most everyone was surprised, but I ignored them and gave my favourite insect her well deserved headpats, "I hope they didn't taste too bad. But I might need you to fly a good distance soon. Have a nap on Usa."

Her reply, after I took my hand off her forehead, was to 'look' up, slowly bring her 'crown' of flying metal shards back to land on her forehead, then dance/slide/glide over to Usa. She collected one more headpat from him, then crept onto his back, curling up into backpack mode save for the spear that she held in one hand. Helpfully, Raphtalia took the spear, and Kunshu's arm retracted to cling to Usa's side.

"Right. Is everyone okay? Good. Have a snack on the way through town."

There was a minor collection of monsters at the town gate leading towards my tree. These ones were labelled as 'Black Shadow Wolf', but due to the natural barrier of sheer stone walls and heavy brick construction, they were just making noise at the guards on the wall. We still had to wade through them, and the rest of the trip up the path took almost an hour total.

"Sir..." Usa started, a little our of breath as he coiled his whip up again, "You're glowing again."

"It wasn't exactly what I had in mind, but this tree is like my home ground." I replied, taking hold of Raphtalia's sword and running a sharpening stone over it a couple of times. "Even the monsters seem to be avoiding it."

We came around the last bend, the 'parking spot' for the wagons that used to carry off the ore from the mine just past the tree. And there it was, the weird, impossible tree that felt like home. "It makes me feel sleepy." Tetsu said, though she was practically prancing as we jogged along.

"Say..." Raphtalia started, "After we deal with the Wave, yes, I think we should put her here." She accepted her sword back and sheathed it, "But what's the plan now?"

The tree was in a natural kind of bowl, protected somewhat from the elements, but also offering some amazing views from the 'walls'. I took a moment to orient myself, "We get up there, and see what we can do."

I took another step, now under the shade of the tree itself, and I felt someone on my 'property'. Back home, I could feel the souls of everyone in the Manor. And as we got within spitting distance of the weird curving bark of the giant tree, I could feel another Soul just at the edge of my 'property'. "Sir?"

"Itsuki's already there, where we're going."

"Declare yourself!" I heard him shout as we got to the bottom of the ridge we wanted to look out from.

"It's us." I said, giving Kunshu's napping back a pat to wake her up, "We're coming up."

I heard Itsuki's bow make a weird sci-fi noise, then a couple of footsteps as he moved to peek over the side, "I didn't expect you up here."

"I can say the same. Though, my tree is quite nice. Move over." I put my back to the wall, cupped my hands, then started throwing my party members up the wall. Usa was second last, with Raphtalia and Clive catching him as he crested the wall, and Tetsu changed into her child form to jump up on her own. This left me at the bottom, but a quick Rope Shield and four strong party members got me up the cliff with ease.

"I should put some stairs there, this is an incredible view. Well, except for the giant undead ship floating over there... It's been almost three hours, why isn't it dead?" I asked.

Itsuki frowned at me, then turned and drew his bow back. Like Clive's bow, it lit up with a magic arrow, then let loose with a spear of light. Off in the distance, much closer now of course than when we were on the ground, was the ship. "It's even uglier now." Tetsu made a 'blah' face. "I don't wanna eat any of that."

Itsuki's arrow glanced off the underside of the hull, leaving, at best, a scratch in the rotten planks. "You've been doing this since you got here?" I asked, feeling a hint of frustration the felt magnified by a sudden itching in my horns. From here, I could see an occasional flash of light or spark of magic on the deck. "They're up there?"

"This is what I'm good at. Why wouldn't I be over here?" He replied, offended, "You make it sound like you have a better idea? What would you know?"

"Is there a problem, Sir Itsuki?" It was one of the two he had back in the tavern I'd met him at, "Oh..."

He looked at the six of us, and I could see the frown under the 'generic all concealing cloak' hood. "I know that for the last three hours, monsters have been spawning all over the world and while you throw toothpicks at the side of a tank, people all around the world are getting hurt or killed." I stopped myself, raised a hand to my forehead and tried to scratch that itch I knew was literally in my horns.

"It will all work out." He replied, firing off another shot.

"Clive? Show him how it's done." I paused as the ship started to turn ponderously, and I spotted a half dozen cannon barrels peeking out of the side.

"It's going to-" Itsuki started, starting to move away. Looking at it now, I could see a clear trail of blast damage along the ledge we were on, stretching on a few hundred metres. It seemed Itsuki was just shooting, then moving when the cannons were ready. Not a bad plan.

But since there was no cliff wall behind me, just my tree, I stood my ground and put an Air Strike Shield in the way. "Don't panic." I said, the cannon letting out a full broadside.

Two impacts, four misses, one unharmed party, one unscathed tree. Tetsu was holding the sides of her head, "Grr! Noisy thing! I might eat it anyhow!"

Like a real cannon, the barrel withdrew into the ship so it could be reloaded. "As I was saying, Clive? Usa? Think you can hit it from here?"

"I'll need some help." Usa admitted.

"Raphtalia, help him out? Kunshu?"

Itsuki had forgotten to keep shooting, likely because he'd never seen real battlefield competence before. Like a well oiled machine, my party started 'large monster long range sniping plan'. Clive made ready, Usa got help from Raphtalia to draw 'the beginner's circle for range expansion' on the ground, I kept watch (and had to put another Air Strike Shield up just in time to stop the cannons again), and lastly, Kunshu and Tetsu waited for 'the all clear' to engage.

"Where did you learn that? And where did you get this bow?" Itsuki finally managed to ask.

"Raphtalia helped us all learn to read, and we got a 'book of beginner magic' from a nice lady in Melromarc." I replied, switching to the Rope Shield and handing Kunshu one end. With four usable arms, she could uncoil the infinite seeming amount of rope from the Shield super fast. Holding the end with one hand, she used the other three to pull.

"Ready sir!" Usa said, "Clive? A beacon please?" And without delay he started casting, standing in the middle of a neatly drawn magic circle.

"Read? Why would you need to read?" Itsuki asked.

"Because I didn't get a heap of magic items from that jerk on the throne to just 'get' magic spells, and I hate being illiterate. Clive? Three, two, one!"

The cannons slid back into firing position, and Clive's bow THWANG'ed. The real arrow he was using was a Ko-steel head, and yes, and in four out of four worlds, that meant it was geared to accepting magic power.

"Drifta Lightning!" Usa finished his chant just before the arrow went down the barrel of the middle cannon.

There was a titanic and very satisfying BOOM as the lightning chased the arrow and this time my Air Strike Shield only blocked bits of ship debris as it showered back at us from the explosion. Two of the cannon were now falling to the ground far below, and...

"Sir! Is... Is the ship screaming?" Raphtalia asked, her fuzzy round ears twitching.

Inside the slowly reforming hole in the side of the ship, it looked like something... big... was moving around inside. We had to get over there!

"Kunshu! Secure it!" I pointed to the prow of the ship and it's shattered foresail mount was. "Tetsu! Be ready.

Itsuki, to his credit, tried to fire a few shots into the weird writhing something we'd revealed with the combination attack. Clive was too, since I hadn't told him not to, but he was also using magic arrows. "I think that's the real monster!" Itsuki said, "But it's just a little too far, I can't read it."

Kunshu flew almost as fast as Clive's arrow, the rope she'd uncoiled rope trailing behind her. Tetsu switched to her dragon form, and held the rope closest to the Shield, giggling quietly. "I love this part."

"Well, we're going to fix that." I said, "Hope they have good balance. Usa?"

"Ready any time." He said, "Clive? Maybe that squishy thing on the... um..."

"Stern." Raphtalia said, "It's a nautilus, and the back of a boat is the 'stern'."

"Thank you ma'am."

Clive clicked his beak a couple of times in a laugh, then pulled out a second Ko-steel lightning rod. But this was just as Kunshu finished wrapping a bunch of the rope around the prow. "Tetsu. Three, two, one!"

Tetsu stopped giggling just long enough to say, "BRING IT DOWN!" and start heaving on the rope. It took a moment for it to go taunt, then the entire ship groaned as her massive strength pulled against the airborne ship. Clive's bow bellowed once more, and a sliver of Ko-steel buried itself in the corpulent mass of rotten crustacean on the back of the ship.

"Drifta Lightning!" Usa called out again.

Again, I put an Air Strike Shield in the way as bits of ship, rotten seafood and the rearmost cannon exploded outwards from the ship. As the ship lurched and tilted at a nearly 45 degree angle around and to the side, I could hear the screaming Raphtalia mentioned.

Straining, Tetsu gave it one last pull and held firm, putting the rope in her mouth to make sure. "I... can jump this!"

It was only a ten metre tightrope that fell a couple hundred metres straight down. No problem. "All aboard!" I shouted, "Kunshu!"

Except she was distracted. Fighting with her spear, the glittering flying metal shards orbiting around her, she was fighting off skeleton pirates. So, I changed the 'order'.

"Clive Support, Raphtalia, Usa go!" I looked to Itsuki, "Well? You coming?"

Raphtalia, the most agile among us, cleared the distance without the rope. Usa, made it by running up the rope with a mildly terrified sounding 'yaaaa!' Itsuki looked at the rope, then to me, "I'm trusting you."

"A first. Get going." I looked to his party, who followed their leader along the rope. If nothing else, Itsuki seemed at least 'aware' of super human combat, having overcome the first fear of 'the ground is so far!' His party made the trip as well, leaving myself Clive and Tetsu for last. On the other end of the rope, as each person got across, they made an expanding 'bubble' around the anchor point where Kunshu had tied it. The skeletons seemed to shatter easily enough, but they quickly reformed.

"If the cannons come around again, hit them." I said to Clive, giving Tetsu a pat on the head before hopping up on the rope and running across. The instant I got my feet on deck, I tossed out another Air Strike Shield and watched Tetsu make the first jump across. I then switched the Shield off the low defence Rope Shield to the Book Shield.

I turned to look over the deck of the ship. Someplace in the middle, Ren and his party were fighting a skeletal rendition of Blackbeard. One hooked hand, cutlass, nice hat, fancy coat. Around him were of course skeleton 'crew'. At the far end, I spotted Motoyasu and his team hacking away at tentacles from the nautilus. And here with Itsuki, we were fighting more skeleton crew, though our fighting strength had no issue in securing the boarding zone for us.

Especially when Tetsu landed on the deck, her big body obliterating a couple of skeletons as she landed on them with a cheerful "Squish! Heehee."

"Fight towards Ren!" I said, "Watch your footing!"

The deck of the ship was rotten, with more than a few boot sized holes that let me see into the darkness below deck. "Who put you in charge?" Itsuki asked.

"Do what you want." I said over my shoulder as the other four members of my party formed a wedge and started forward, "But friendly fire isn't." And I started my vigil as the rear guard, keeping an eye on the situation.

"Shooting Star Sword!" Ren and his party weren't having too much trouble with the Captain. At least, so it seemed. His sword flared with energy, and he smashed apart the Captain with a flurry of attacks...

Then had to back up as the skeletal body reformed a moment later and started swinging its cutlass at him again. This happened a second time before my party and I got there, but after seeing it the first time I called to the party, "Throw any loose bones over the side!" This kind of regeneration could usually be slowed by creating distance between body parts.

"What are you doing here?!" Ren called out as my party got within easy shouting distance and started thinning out the mobs attacking him and his party. "I thought you said you were defending the towns!"

"We finished that over an hour ago! What's taking so long?!" I called back, opening up the Book Shield and freezing bones to the deck before they could collect themselves into a full skeleton again.

"We have to beat the Captain a few times, to make the Soul Eater appear!" He shouted back, stepping back, then lunging forward, once again hacking apart the Captain.

"If it's some kind of hidden monster, it's inside the ship!" I replied, snapping my hands together, "Hyoketsu!" The foggy air and altitude helped with the water senjitsu, and most of the Captain simply froze in place on the deck, "You are wasting time!"

"It's just how it works!" He shot back, "It doesn't help when someone keeps rocking the boat!"

His party took a couple of seconds to just... take a deep breath, and I even saw one of them down one of the potions I gave Ren.

"Then what's Motoyasu doing?" I asked.

"He said you had to attack the tentacles to bring it out!" He got ready again as the Captain's bones pulled themselves out of my ice and reformed.

Itsuki was attacking the ship, Ren was attacking the captain, Motoyasu the nautilus. If they all had different versions of the same information, then the enemy they all wanted was hiding.

"Usa make ready!" I called out, "Raphtalia, Tetsu, protect him, Kunshu help Ren!"

"I don't need that thing's help!" Ren growled.

I felt something boil inside me, and stomped towards him. On the way, I casually blocked the Cutlass of the captain as he tried to bring it down on my shoulder. I swept my arm to the side to let the force of the swing bury the blade into the rotten deck...

And gave Ren my very best SPARTA kick. "Have a seat BOY, and let me do your job for you!" I said to him as he landed flat on his back next to one of his party members. Oh, and I tossed him one of my potions as he started to sit up.

Kunshu, not caring about being insulted, hovered over to him and started to sweep at skeletons as they tried to go for the downed Hero.

Turning my back to him, I faced down the Captain, "Raphtalia to me! Usa! Countdown Five!"

Without hesitation, Raphtalia broke away from Tetsu and Usa (with the dragon using her larger body to pace a tight circle around the rabbit man to keep him safe with claws and tail), and landed in front of me, parrying a sword strike and dancing away from a follow up swing from the hook hand.

I faced down the Captain and started to really pull in the energy in the air. Proximity to my Tree helped, the natural elements in the air helped, and the irritation at seeing this worlds saviours being so incompetent... Well it might not have helped, but it encouraged me to try especially hard.

Four seconds later, I shouted, "Drifta Aqua Shot!" Combining it with the hand gesture for my now well practised 'Water Flow' Senjitsu.

MP and SP flowed out of me as a near vertical pillar of water formed out of nothing above the Captain. And exactly on cue, Usa called out, "Drifta Lightning!"

I summoned up the Air Strike Shield an instant before the lightning hit the Captain and his own personal waterspout, and with an ear shattering explosion of light, sound, bits of skeleton and rotten wood, there was basically nothing left of the Captain (except for his nice hat someplace to my left), and a crater of unnatural darkness under the deck.

"First Light!" Raphtalia called out, that darkness lit up by a pure flare of white incandescence.

"Found your Soul Eater." I shouted as ghostly wispy face made of runny flesh and shadow looked up at me and screeched.

Notes!

Part two in five days!

Thank you for reading! And if you want to see any full colour art, join the discord!

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

And my actual book, Were Too? is on Inkitt.

And! I'm looking into getting some story themed merchandise made. Join the Discord to find out more!