"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
"...Understood, but I retain veto powers to tell you to stop If I feel you're taking it too far. It really was making us feel really bad, watching you do that to yourself..."
"Of course... I'll add some knife throwing training in the mix. Aiming is light work."
Naofumi nodded. He felt the compromise was fair.
...
Naofumi and his party were traveling down yet another road, when Monti came down to tell them something.
"Mom, Dad, there's an old women and little boy walking this way up ahead. They looked distressed"
Filo began to slow the cart without needing to be told. Monti switched to his human form and climbed into the cart. Naofumi moved to the front alongside Raphtalia. Teal stayed in the back with Monti. If it was a quick conversation, there was no reason to reveal themselves.
Filo slowed to a stop beside the two travelers. Naofumi spoke first.
"Hello. Are you both okay?" Naofumi tried his best to be friendly.
They both looked tired and hungry. Very much like Fitts. "No. Not in the slightest. Me and my grandson barely made it out of there... You should turn back yourself. Otherwise you'll surely perish..."
Naofumi and Raphtalia shared a look. Then Raphtalia spoke, "We'll stop and have a meal. Eat with us a share the details please. Kids! Simple hunt, 1000 yards."
Filo moved the cart off the road then she changed to her human form to quickly free her from the harness. Monti and Teal existed the cart to meet her.
The two strangers went from confused to scared, before Naofumi reassured them.
"Please calm down. You're in no danger... Don't take longer than 20 minutes. If you can't find anything, we'll pull from storage." He called back to the kids.
Naofumi and Raphtalia motioned for the to travelers to join them. After a moment of hesitation they did.
"There's a village ahead called Mirso Village. It was my family's home for six generations... Now a plague spreads there."
"What can you tell us about the plague?" Raphtalia asked. Knowing the sickness and it's qualities early gave Naofumi time to prepare.
"It was a cruel, but fair punishment. It struck the village so suddenly and so completely. It robs the strength of the victims. They'd grow tired, lose weight, turn pale, eventually be bedridden, then finally pass on. No one who has gotten it has seen recovery."
They spent the next hour gathering the finer details and making food.
Something bothered Naofumi though. When she first spoke of the plague, this women called it a 'cruel, but fair punishment'... Why? She seemed guilty, but he felt it wrong to accuse her of anything. When they were done talking, Raphtalia suggested they try to make their way to Lerno Village. She said they had food to spare.
After seeing them off and gathering their things and headed off to save whoever they could from this plague.
...
Mirso Village
...
The sight of the village said it all. As the party made their way through the gate, they looked at what had become of the village.
Most people had wrapped their faces in cloth and walked with canes, likely they were the newest victims.
There were very few people on the streets, most seemed held up in their homes, likely older victims.
Lastly they saw a growing cemetery, many freshly buried, likely the oldest victims.
Even Teal curbed her sass at the sight of this. The whole place looked doomed... Until they saw Filo. At the sight of her, a man shouted. "The savior has come! Fetch the doctors!"
With that the slow moving townsfolk became alive with energy they'd been lacking just a moment prior. Naofumi was barely able to exit their cart before being surrounded by both the sick and the desperate.
"Please calm down. I need to treat the worst one's first. I need to see what can be done before I can know what will work." "If anything will work."
...
Inside the church
...
The closest to death were brought to the church as the whole of the building was turned into a sick bay. There seemed to be only three people treating nearly fifty people. They eyed Naofumi with a mixture of hope and scrutiny. Raphtalia, Monti and Filo stayed to the side, while Teal stuck next to Naofumi. One approached him.
"So you're this so called savior everyone is talking about?"
"It's what they call me... I have a lot of medicine. I can also whip up something specific, but I need details."
The doctor seemed reluctant to speak a moment, but did so nonetheless.
"Some time ago, the sword hero slew a mighty dragon that lived near here. Gaelion was it's name... After that, the corpse turned into something beyond foul. We can't even approach the thing. The water and air here have become tainted and no one seems immune."
"First Motoyasu, now Ren! The hell are they thinking!?"
"So poison, not a virus? That's actually something I could be a lot of help in fixing."
Naofumi felt a tug on his sleeve. It was Filo. She had come up to him while the doctor spoke. Naofumi leaned down, Filo whispered in his ear.
"This one too, just like the old lady earlier. They're feeling really guilty about something."
Naofumi thought little of it at the time. people often felt guilty when others suffer and die. Blaming one's self is a common grieving method.
After speaking a bit with the doctor on the symptoms and the speed of it's progression, Naofumi went to see some of the patients. They were indeed bad, but he had a trump card for poison specifically, he felt would do the trick.
Using [Inspect] on a patient and receiving medical information via his mastery bonus [Diagnose], he began to remove items from his [Inventory]. He had to ask Teal to grow him a specific ingredient he lacked.
Once that was done he began to brew medicine from scratch. He had many bonuses that helped in his medicine making, but [Antidote Compounding Up] and [Counter Poison] helped further with anti-poison medicine specifically. He wasn't sure how much of a bonus [Counter Poison] gave, but it scaled off his poison resistance, which was currently at +16. Once it was done, Naofumi administered it himself to boost it further and give it a range of effect.
It was times like these that Naofumi was very thankful of his many many bonuses and their stacking effects.
Those within the effective range saw a remarkable improvement. The doctors were amazed and one even started to cry. Naofumi however was shocked.
"That was the best thing I could make and it would take two more at least to cure these people. Three potions per... five to six people. That's 150 antidotes. And that's just these people, there were a hell of a lot more of these sick out and about the town... How do I do this?"
"I'm sorry for the questioning of your skill savior. This is a miracle you've preformed"
"No. This is bad."
"W-what?"
"I intended for that to cure them completely. At this rate I'll run out of supplies... We have only one option..."
"And what is that savior? We'll help however we can!"
"We need to dispose of that corpse."
The doctors said nothing, but stared in shock.
"At this rate the only hope you have is to stop the source. Once it's buried or burned, I can help all I can. Placed in better health and with no new poison being introduced, from there your bodies may be able to fend it off. Even if it can't, it'll buy us time and that corpse has to be handled either way."
The doctors understood his point, but they were quiet about the help they had only just offered. That didn't matter to Naofumi much who began an emergency family meeting back at their cart.
"We need to remove the corpse. Let's get ready."
"I just can't imagine such powerful poison, how'd a creature manage to gain that?" Monti asked.
"Poison and venom gains in strength as one levels. That dragon must of been of a high level." Teal explained.
"Then why hasn't my venom gotten a single bit stronger since the day I was born?" Monti was upset at the news.
Raphtalia recalled that the magic shop owner proposed that Monti lacked in ways and that he'd be able to gain them through his ability. This must be yet another of the ways he is lacking.
There was a brief discussion on everyone being vocal if they felt the poison was getting to them. They also decided to take the cart and rush there to reduce the time they spent exposed.
With the plan set they went to execute it.
...
Gaelion's territory
...
Filo traveled very fast, but still nowhere near full speed. Naofumi feared the cart would break that way.
As they moved toward the spot the villagers claimed the dragon rested, they began seeing monster in large numbers. Frogs, bees, flies, snakes, spider, scorpions, lizards and centipedes. All very large for what they were. They likely thrived in this environment, being either poisonous or venomous and therefore being resistant to the dragon's own poison
They didn't have time for this right now. Naofumi cast [Fast Guard] on Filo as she plowed through the poor things. The few that avoided Filo's charge were whipped nearly in two by Teal, who turned her fingers into thin long vines.
These were a lot of good monster parts, but they'd have to return for them, the priority was the corpse removal.
After cresting the rather large and rough hill, they saw it. The corpse was a bit larger than their expectations and they had big expectations. It was quite rotten with various shades from purple to black, some bones showing. There were also some strange bugs about the corpse. They looked similar to bees, but their stinger and the region around it looked like a syringe.
"Naofumi-sama, those bugs!"
"No worries, we'll deal with them as easily as the others."
"No. You don't understand. Those are Carriers, right?"
She seemed quite concerned, a quick [Inspect] later proved her right.
"Seems so, why? What's the big deal?" Naofumi asked.
"Carriers are a well known nuisance. Normally they're less dangerous than other monsters, but their capabilities make them a nightmare here."
"What capabilities?" Teal was now curious.
"They aren't technically poisonous or venomous and they're nearly immune to both, but it's a commonly known fact that they prey on such creatures using that high resistance and use their stingers to extract the poison or venom of their prey. They use it like a hunting tool."
"Are you saying they'd hunt down a venomous snake, take it's venom, then keep using it and reabsorbing that venom for some time?" Monti began to pale, realizing the implications.
"Yes..." Raphtalia confirmed.
"So right now..." Filo was now getting it.
"They're gathering this terrible poison to use in their hunting. Any that escape will mean further victims somewhere else and there'd be no way to track them." Teal finished.
Naofumi turned to Monti and Filo, "I need you two to do this fast. Don't let a single one escape."
They both nodded. Monti took his full form and moved next to Filo. They prepared themselves. They took a breath then began to act.
They moved in quickly; Monti high, Filo low. Filo obviously made it to the target much faster and used her [Fast Tornado] to peel them off of the dragon's corpse. Some were killed by that alone. Monti followed it up with an [Arc Discharge] using one of his front paws and his tail. Those that remained were shredded.
It was a quick success and everyone gave a sigh of relief after witnessing the results. Had they gotten away, this one tragedy could of been ten or more tragedies.
Twitch.
Raphtalia's ears twitched. Something was wrong here. She looked around, thinking a Carrier got away, but there was nothing.
Twitch.
Still she felt worry, but everything seemed fine. Was the poison already getting to her?
Twitch.
Filo went from happy to scared in an instant. She turned sharply to Monti. She went to yell something, but it never reached him.
Suddenly the corpse of the dragon sprang awake, but still very dead. A baleful presence gripped everyone there. It caused a hesitation in all of them. Hesitation that would cost them.
The zombie dragon swung with what remained of his tail at Monti at a speed Naofumi and the others could barely track. In one clean motion Monti's right wing was folded and crushed, nearly torn off as the tail followed through it's arc. It launched him off in a direction, skipping across the rock and instantly becoming still as he was carved into the stone that caught him.
The response was instant. Filo was furious and she wasn't alone. Raphtalia ran in without thinking. Emotions were high and mistakes were being made. That was where Teal was suppose to come in. Suppose to. She grew her body and began to cover it in bark and thorns as she began manifesting all manner of nasty plants.
Naofumi tried to use [Gamble], but Monti was now too far away and it'd be too late to use it by the time he got there. He alone ran to Monti, potion in hand, shouting his name. Hating that [Prophecy] only affected himself.
Raphtalia and Filo laid into it's body with killing intent. Even as it's flesh seemed so soft and ready to fall right off the bone, their attacks seemed to do far less than they imagined. They were now seeing what dragon hide was capable of. They were finding themselves ill-equipped for the situation.
Teal however had all kinds of attacks to unleash. Acid and alkaline reaction explosions, horsetrap style plant mouths, vines lashing, poison, pollen, striking with her enlarged form. Indeed these varied attacks would of done well against this foe... If she wasn't level 24.
Raphtalia and Filo were level 40 and could break through the hide, but it took a lot of effort. The gap was simply too large for her efforts to show results.
Naofumi reached Monti who was knocked out cold, bleeding from the head and his wing was in terrible shape. He could only imagine the internal damage he had. He held Monti and leaned him back as he fed him one of his best medicines, working his throat to make him drink it. He cast [Fast Heal] and tried to talk softly to wake him. The medicine and spell stopped the bleeding and somewhat helped his wing, but he was otherwise still out cold and hurt badly.
Naofumi didn't want to leave Monti like this, but had to turn his attention to the others. It turned out to be the right move.
The zombie dragon swung it's tail again, but now that it wasn't a sneak attack, they managed to dodge it. Afterwards it tried to smash it's claw down on Filo, using all of it's weight. Naofumi knew he had to leave Monti here. He'd make it, but victory was not yet in sight.
Naofumi briefly thought about how strong this thing had to be. Monti wasn't weak and yet he could of died from that one strike. Going by game logic, a zombie dragon is stronger than a normal dragon... And a dragon is one of the pinnacle existences of this world. For a moment, he thought about them loosing here.
[Air Strike Shield]
It appeared above Filo, but it halted the attack for merely a moment before it tore through it.
[Second Shield] [Air Strike Shield]
A second one appeared, stalling the attack again. While both shields did little, it ended up being enough. Filo jumped back while launching herself with wind magic. The rotten flesh faltered under it's own force as the attack caused it to squirt blood from the claw and hand after it landed.
From Naofumi's view, it looked like the dragon's claw came down and caused dust to kick up as it hit the ground leaving a large splash of blood in it's wake. In that moment Naofumi thought Filo was dead. This sent him to a dark place. He again imagined them loosing. Filo dead. Monti dead. Teal dead... Raphtalia dead.
"No."
He rejected it. The idea that things could be so cruel. That he'd manage to find love and happiness despite the circumstances and he lost it, lost them, out here, out of nowhere. These people who he called his family.
"NO!"
Naofumi felt something. Something he hadn't felt since that night. The worst moment of his life. That night he felt this... weird feeling. It was both too hot to touch and so cold it'd numb you to the heat.
.
[Curse series unlocked]
[Shield of Rage unlocked]
[Shield of Rage]
+20 def, + 20 mdef
[Unique Ability: Self Burning Curse] Upon something striking the shield, send out cursed flames to lash out on those around yourself.
[Unique Ability: Strength Up] Physical strength increases based on def and level.
.
The presence that the dragon gave off was suddenly overshadowed by an even greater evil. An evil emanating from Naofumi. Even the dragon, which should be a soulless, brainless undead, turned to see the source. They all witnessed Naofumi as he now held the [Shield of Rage].
He ran towards the dragon as fast as he could. Raphtalia and Teal tried to say something, but Naofumi couldn't hear them. The dragon tried his breath attack. In life, it was a flame so bright it could blind the unlucky. Now though? It was concentrated fumes of poison launched with a force that could peel skin from flesh and flesh form bone.
It slowed Naofumi down, but little else. Filo was so shocked, she stood there mouth agape, watching.
The dragon then tried to use his tail on Naofumi.
"The tail that stole my son's life!" In his mind right now, they were all dead.
The tail came to a stop as it made contact with Naofumi. It's advance thwarted.
"Burn!" [Self Burning Curse] activated and flames burst forth and clung to the monster unnaturally as if it were alive. It's mighty dragon's hide was little aid in defending itself from this evil. It reeled back in pain.
Filo stayed where she was, too stunned by her fathers current feats and his evil aura to know what to do.
Raphtalia and Teal were also stunned, but they both snapped out of it and began to approach Naofumi.
The dragon came back down on Naofumi with it's left claw. Naofumi swatted it aside, unleashing even more fire.
Next, it's right claw came from the other side trying to throw Naofumi and the surrounding earth into the sky, but Naofumi didn't budge. And again [Self Burning Curse] claimed a third limb as it's victim.
Now the dragons front claws and tail were burning it's flesh away, with no way to extinguish it. It was basically victory, eventually.
"Naofumi-sama! You did well. We can take it from here. Put that thing away and return to Monti's side." Raphtalia thought he could understand her.
Naofumi made no action, Raphtalia and Teal were growing worried.
"Father... What has happened to you? You always made an effort to acknowledge mother's words..." Teal saw that he wasn't in his right mind, but was trying to see what this mind was about.
"Both of you! Move!" Filo screamed.
Teal wanted to trust that father would never lay a finger on them and if he was in his right mind, her words would be true. She however believed her sister's instincts were never wrong. This meant their father was fully under this dark force's control. She didn't wait for her mother to approve or not. She wrapped a vine around her and leapt away.
As she did that, Naofumi tried to launch fire at them. Raphtalia was only barely saved from it.
They all took a step back and tried to figure out what to do. Raphtalia, Filo and Teal were confused and desperate. The zombie dragon wasn't down yet. Naofumi would attack anything close to himself and they didn't know Monti's condition, fearing the worst.
The dragon threw it's head back, that meant it was about to launch it's breath attack again. They could retreat further. Naofumi had shown himself strong enough to take the attack. Raphtalia didn't like a plan where she ran off and left Naofumi to fight alone, in that state. She resolved herself.
"Sorry." That was all Raphtalia said as she cut the vine Teal had used to hold her. She then dashed towards Naofumi again.
It hurt Teal, but she'd regenerate. More importantly her response had great significance. She could still grab her mother in time. This was suppose to be her job. To be the smart one... However she couldn't, regardless of her intelligence, her emotions were not nearly as advanced. So she did the dumb thing of following her mother into what could be certain death.
Naofumi was still lost in this hypothetical hell of his own imagination. One where everyone who hated him got their way. He was failing. He was snatched from one home, then had a second one snatched from him. He thought that if that's what was going to happen. If this whole world was going to do whatever it could to see him cry. If the reason he was born was to feel this way, in this moment... Then he'd have his revenge.
Revenge for the life that was taken from him, revenge for the injustices and falsehoods leveled against him, Revenge for this new family stolen from him, too early for him to truly know his full feelings on them. He would be denied no longer.
This dragon let loose a deafening roar accompanying his deadly breath. Raphtalia and Teal reached Naofumi's back as he took a stance to block the attack. The force nearly sent Raphtalia and Teal flying away, they had no choice but to hold onto Naofumi, even as his flames nipped at them.
After an intense few moments, the breath ended. Then there was a brief pause, before [Self Burning Curse] activated and shot out and stuck the dragon's face. The [Self Burning Curse] also seriously burned Raphtalia and Teal.
Raphtalia began to scream at Naofumi trying to get him to calm down. It looked like it wasn't going to work when-
[Blightning]
Monti was still wedged in the rock, not entirely sure what was going on. He briefly gained consciousness and saw the zombie dragon. He thought only a brief moment before launching his spell and losing consciousness again. Hoping this little bit of damage helped.
The distinct sound of lightning pulled Naofumi out of the rage for only a brief moment. A moment of hope. In that moment he heard Raphtalia.
"Please Naofumi-sama! We're here! We can do this! Stop using whatever that evil force is!"
He was so confused. "That was clearly Raphtalia, but where was she? And she wasn't dead? Did that lightning mean Monti wasn't dead? And she said..."
He looked down at his shield. It was in a form he couldn't recognize, but the feeling seemed familiar.
While thinking this, he caught a scent. It was the unique scent that Teal's head gave off. A scent he had come to like. "Was Teal alive too?"
While Naofumi was trying to figure out what was going on, the dragon was trying to attack again. Slowed by the [Blightning] and blinded by the [Self Burning Curse] that already burned it's eyes away, It was finally sluggish enough to be interrupted.
Filo used [High Quick] to launch herself at the dragon's head, knocking it's attempted bite off course.
Naofumi's eyes widened as he saw Filo. She was the one he was sure was dead and yet... Now he'd felt all four of them in one way or another. The idea that they were dead, was wrong? He finally turned to his side to see a hurt Raphtalia clung to him, with Teal's vines around him as well. They both had nasty black marks on them.
"Did I do this?"
With that realization, the [Shield of Rage] changed back to his starting shield. Despite all that happened, Raphtalia, Filo and Teal smiled. They had retrieved Naofumi from whatever that evil was.
That moment was interrupted by the zombie dragon roaring again. It tried to strike them and missed by a good distance. After it did so two more times, they realized that it could no longer see them and Filo's kick made it lose it's sense of direction. Now it had no idea where they were and no way to find out.
If they left it alone, the [Self Burning Curse] would kill in eventually, but Naofumi wanted to witness it's passing to be sure. He found a good angle to attack from and used [Sunder].
The attack was as strong as it should be, but did less than a quarter of the damage Naofumi expected. They quickly retreated to Monti's position and they watched it from that distance as it burned and roared.
Everyone else was now able to see Monti's condition after Naofumi's first round of healing. He was better than he could of been, but far worse than they hoped. Raphtalia looked at Monti's wing and nearly cried. He'd be unable to fly for a while. Even if Naofumi healed it daily and used his best medicine, it might not be back to working order for the wave. She knew how much it meant to him to do well in the wave. He'll be upset when he hears this.
Filo and Teal both looked at their big brother in such poor shape. It made Teal feel even weaker than when all her attacks failed earlier. Filo felt like it was her fault. She was suppose to be the fast one and yet she just watched that attack hit Monti. She knew if the positions were reversed, Monti might of hesitated too. She was just trying to find a reason to feel guilty.
Naofumi tried tending to all the injured While Filo kept an eye on the dragon. She wanted so badly to go in and fight it. It was a dragon after all and it hurt her big brother, but she knew that'd only cause her father to get hurt too.
Naofumi couldn't heal the burns of Raphtalia and was flashing through a few emotions. Teal simply grew those parts out then cut them off. It hurt and hurt her Hp and other stats, but that would hopefully repair itself soon enough. More importantly she felt she failed a lot today. She was too weak to hurt their enemy. She let her emotions guide her and that led to her mother's burns.
In her mind her father wasn't in control, so he wasn't at fault. She however very much was able to make decisions and simply chose wrong. Her mother would be okay and her father could focus on Monti alone if she was more dependable. She contributed nothing to the family today. For the first time she felt real shame. She began to realize that emotions were something you can't think through.
Naofumi used [Inspect] on Raphtalia and saw she was affected by [Burning Curse]. It was magical in nature. Something his medicine couldn't normally help. He thought to have Raphtalia hold the [Cane of Vitality]. It'd turn the status into Hp loss over time. From there, he'd heal her with both medicine and spells.
However the moment she touched it, she lost nearly 50% of her health and only a tiny bit of the curse was gone. It caused too much pain and was too unsafe. He did what he could and wrapped her arm.
"I'm sorry, I'm sorry..."
Naofumi just kept tending to Raphtalia and Monti and never raised his head. Raphtalia saw this and went to say something, but a crashing noise caught everyone's attention.
The zombie dragon hit the ground and stopped moving.
It roused Monti as well.
"We... Won?"
The party's collective attention was now on Monti.
"Yes we won. Please don't try to move, you're stuck..." Raphtalia gently said.
He simply smiled and stayed put. Even if she told him to get moving right now, he just didn't have it in him. Even if it was by surprise, the idea of loosing that easily ripped through the small amount of confidence he'd built up until now. He looked up and saw markings around his mothers arm. He failed to protect her.
They took nearly an hour healing themselves and regrouping. Teal slowly broke Monti free of the stone and took everything really slow just to be sure. After that hour, they were able to move again, but Monti had trouble standing. Filo and Teal eagerly took each of his arms and helped him stand and move.
As they made it to the place the dragon stopped at, they noticed three things.
Firstly, the dragon was now a pitch black skeleton still on fire, burning seemingly nothing. Two crystals near by, one much smaller than the other.
Secondly it's tail still had flesh as it was back where the fight began.
And thirdly, The dragon seemed almost like it was trying to enter a cave it died near.
Naofumi wasn't in a mood reaping rewards. He felt that he earned nothing... All the same-
Naofumi placed the two crystals in his [Inventory] . He didn't know if the curse touched them too and thought it better to scoop them up and kept moving.
Next he approached the tail. He could get some shields, it was strong, maybe they'd be quite strong? Before he could though,
"Dad... Don't hate me... but..."
"Monti, whatever it is just say it. I can't exactly be mad at you when you're like that."
"...I need a bite."
That wasn't what he expected, "What? but this thing..."
Naofumi used [Inspect] on the tail. It confirmed that Gaelion was something called a dragon emperor. It must be the royal name for a dragon. So Monti's predator instincts accurately told him to gain more strength, but-
"If you eat it, you'll get sick. Like really really sick."
"I'm basically stuck on medicine and light duty for a while anyways, right?"
If Naofumi was in a better place emotionally, he'd of told Monti 'No'. Right now though, he felt really guilty and didn't want to argue.
He used the carving knife to a small piece off, dowsed it in antidote and handed it to Monti with three more antidote.
"You better drink every single drop" Raphtalia said.
Naofumi then got to work absorbing some of the tail.
.
[Dragon Shield]
+1 atk, +2 def, +3 mag, +2 mdef, +8 fire resistance
[Ability: Baleful Presence] Assault the mind and soul of those around you using your own, however it allows those affected to accurately feel how strong you are.
.
[Dragon Scale Shield]
+3 def, + 3 fire resistance
.
[Dragon Hide Shield]
+3 mdef, + 3 fire resistance
.
[Dragon Bone Shield]
+2 def, + 2 mdef, + 3 fire resistance
.
[Zombie Dragon Shield]
+10 sp, +5 def, +5 mdef, +3 fire resistance, +20 rot resistance, +10 poison resistance
.
They were really strong and 10 more poison resistance really mattered right now. He then remembered the Carriers and the other monsters they passed.
"Filo I need your speed."
Filo was ready of course. Naofumi asked her to gather one of each monster. while she did that, Naofumi and Teal drug the rest of the tail over to the burning skeleton and threw it on. Making sure it caught fire. Naofumi then tasked Teal to bury the skeleton after all the flesh was gone.
By the time they moved that heavy thing, Filo was done.
.
[Poison Frog Shield]
+1 agi, + 2 poison resistance
[Ability: Jump up] You can jump slightly higher
.
[Poison Bee Shield]
+1 agi, +2 poison resistance
[Ability: Poison Needle Shield] (requires 'Change Shield') (requires 'Shield Prison') Paralyze captured targets from all sides.
.
[Corpse Fly Shield]
+3 hp, +1 poison resistance, +2 rot resistance
.
[Poison Serpent Shield]
+1 mdef, +2 poison resistance
[Ability: Coil] skills and spells used from a defensive position are 5% more effective.
.
[Spider Shield]
+1 sp
[Ability: Climbing Up] You can climb slightly better
.
[Recluse Spider Shield]
+2 sp, +2 poison resistance
[Ability: Climbing Up ll] You can climb moderately better
.
[Black Scorpion]
+1 def, +2 poison resistance
[Ability: Lingering Poison] Poisons made or caused by you last 10% longer
.
[Poison Newt Shield]
+1 agi, +3 poison resistance
[Ability: Poison Plus] Poisons you make are 5% better
.
[Giant Centipede Shield]
+1 def, +1 agi, + 3 poison resistance
[Ability: Coil ll] skills and spells used from a defensive position are 10% more effective.
.
[Carrier Shield]
+1 agi, +8 poison resistance
[Ability: Isolation Chamber] Whenever a poison or venom is used on you, there is a 10% chance of receiving that exact poison or venom in a vial in your drop menu.
.
"Eight more in one shield? These combined take my poison resistance up by 35, to 51!"
Naofumi gave Raphtalia and Monti a look. Raphtalia seems fine, but if that mark was hurting her, she wouldn't let Naofumi know. Monti seemed very sick complaining of the taste, his wing and his stomach.
"Did you even get anything out of that?" Teal asked doubtfully.
"M-my poison, it's better." Monti was fighting back the attempts to throw up.
Monti didn't seem fine, but he was lively enough to complain.
Next they headed into the cave. The air in there was surprisingly fresher than the tainted air outside.
"Raphtalia, Monti stay here. Teal look after them. Filo with me."
"Naofumi-sama, I'm only mildly hurt, I'm coming with you."
"No, rest. There probably isn't any threats" Naofumi needed to know she was safe.
"Then there's no reason for me not to come." She tried to argue.
"The answer is no." Naofumi wanted her away from him. He didn't know what happened and was scared he'd hurt her again.
"I wasn't asking"
Raphtalia already knew the kind of person Naofumi was. He tried so hard to blame himself the day she was forcibly freed. He wanted to be painted as a bastard. He always found blame in himself first. It's exactly because of this that she needed him to know she doesn't blame him and isn't afraid of him.
Naofumi didn't want to get angry. He felt that the shield that started this whole problem made him angrier. He didn't want to succumb to it. He caved.
Filo felt it from her dad now, guilt. She started to wonder if the people of Mirso Village were just simply blaming themselves. Maybe Filo was doing that too? And Monti? And Teal? Did they all get that from their father?
As Naofumi, Raphtalia and Filo walked through the cave they notice how odd it was. The walls and ceiling were roughly carved away. Like Gaelion kept a clean roost. Yet the further inward they went, the cleaner it got. Finally near the back of the cave it began to get tighter. They assumed Gaelion was too large to fit here, judging by his size. Then again, he was a dragon emperor.
"Maybe he could control his size. Maybe he could change into a human form-"
Naofumi realized something.
"Gaelion was a royal. That meant it was intelligent, right? Then why did Ren have to kill him. Surrendering would be preferential to death... Maybe Ren killed him too quickly. Maybe Gaelion was an evil dragon that-no. That wouldn't make sense. If Gaelion had been living here for a really long time and everyone knew his name, then why aren't the local towns burnt away? The easy answer was Gaelion didn't want to kill them... Then why was Ren tasked with killing Gaelion in the first place?"
They stepped into a smaller section with even smoother stone and became even more confused. A large table and two chairs turned over. Broken pottery and cheap silverware thrown about. An empty bookshelf turned on it's side.
"This is-"
Naofumi began looking at every little thing, trying to find something to prove it. He examined the table and chairs. One chair had small cuts all over it, the same was true with one section of the table.
"This was... Gaelion's stuff? He had furniture? Then he absolutely could of taken a human form, right?"
As they went further in, two things were being made clear.
The first was that someone had already come here first and taken everything of value. That was shown by the silverware being cheap, but not being enough for two full sets. Someone took the good stuff and left the cheap stuff. The book shelf also looked old and had marks showing that many books lined the shelf, yet he only found one book.
The second was that Gaelion did not live here alone. There were two of everything and by the look of the worthless book left behind, a small story book for children... Naofumi wasn't liking this at all.
As they hit the very back of the cave, they found a room. It was a child's room.
Raphtalia pointed out something. On the wall there was a recording of height. a line and an age recorded next to it. From this the child seemed to age normally from age 9 to age 12. No earlier height was recorded.
"So they um, they'd have to be a human, right? Or maybe a demi-human like mom?"
The height record on that wall would seem to heavily suggest that.
Naofumi was beginning to get a picture of what could of happened here and he was hating it. He went to search the room when two of his detection shields picked up something. Both toward the same wall section. One was his mining shield the other was-
"There's someone trapped here!" Naofumi pulled a pickax out of his [Inventory] and struck at the rock.
"Maybe the kid had a way to hide behind this wall? Maybe they hid from the bandits, but couldn't get out?"
As Naofumi struck the wall it gave way easily enough, the wall was thin. As the three of them peered into to hole they each made a face. Naofumi's was a mixture of relief and disappointment, Raphtalia's was of excitement and joy, and Filo's was a one of anger and doubt.
"Dad please tell me you wont..."
Behind this thin wall, covered in dust was a small pile of gold and silver coins and at the bottom, a monster egg also covered in dust.
.
[Author's Notes]
So zombie dragon caused some damage. Some that'll last until or maybe just past the next wave.
Naofumi's wrath series made it's debut, thoughts on my portrayal. Did I do it okay?
The party is figuring out the truth behind Gaelion's murder. Not that there's much they can do about it now.
I feel each member of the family failed this chapter in some way.
And the last egg I'm for sure going to add. I know it's a stretch, but I wanted the dragon/Filo rivalry. My excuse is going to be how long dragon eggs take to hatch normally. Gaelion's old mate laid this egg a long time ago by our standards and he kept it safe with everything else precious to him.
I've debated on a boy or a girl for the dragon. I know I'll name her Drace if a girl, not sure if a boy.
Tell me: Boy or Girl and if boy, what name.
I was considering one more child who was gonna be more of a tsundere and was going to be big axe wielding griffon, but she isn't needed like the others. Should I cut her? I'm probably cutting her...
Quick question (don't read too much in to this): If I made Wyndia a mini-villain later would yall hate that? Like she found a way to free herself and levels up killing the slavers, takes the monster they had and makes it back to Mirso Village for some home cooked revenge... Would you hate that? Like they stop her, but she's already killed some people. They obviously spare her. What would your feeling on that be?
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