"Talking"
"Thinking"
[Status Magic or other reference to a system or power]
…
Before any of that, though, they needed to return to Castletown and receive their rewards and supplies.
If only a parade wasn't marching its way to Lurolona, and nearly there.
.
Everyone had prepared themselves for their return to Melromarc. They were all level 70, having lowered their level with the whip method, excluding Rishia and Walter who were lowered to level 39 and gained a level, allowing them to receive Filo's better class upgrade. Originally, Ren and Motoyasu were going to split from here, but Naofumi got some news.
"Dad. Fitoria wants to speak to spear guy. Fitoria will be waiting near mom's village." Filo told him.
Naofumi couldn't hide his smile and neither could Motoyasu hide his dread.
"We'll travel with you." Ren added.
"We want to meet this 'Fitoria' too." Itsuki said
Ren and Itsuki decided to go with them to meet Fitoria. She could be their greatest ally or deadliest foe. It made sense to meet her as early as they could.
"Fine. We'll teleport there and I'll use [Knock Knock II] to bring everyone else… Where's the queen?" Naofumi asked.
"What? She left not long after those meetings. She can't afford to wait on the island a whole week." Mia answered.
"That makes sense. We aren't the only ones that are busy." Naofumi thought.
"I'll be coming as well." The old lady announced.
"What's your plan exactly?" Naofumi asked.
"I'd like to keep training you all and I believe I shall, but you each need to at least be able to pierce a stone with your finger before we can progress the training further. You are all aware of the exercises and practices you'll need to do to achieve that. Until most or all of you have gotten that far, it'd be better to wait. That said, Rishia is advancing faster than the rest of you to the point that having her wait for the rest of you to catch up would be a waste. So, I've decided to train Miss Rishia personally. We can figure out how to train the rest of you when you catch up." She said bluntly.
"Why is this the first time I'm hearing this?" Itsuki was put off.
"That'd probably be because I didn't tell you." She said bluntly, again.
"...Fine, but we're heading north after this… There are people I owe a great deal." Itsuki replied.
She simply nodded along. Everyone got ready.
[Portal Shield]!
Naofumi was the first to leave, the other heroes were a single moment behind him. They arrived at the dragon hourglass. Everyone stepped aside and waited. Naofumi turned to the surprised soldiers and mages maintaining the hourglass.
"We'll need two class upgrades. Do I need to get the queen to write me something, or can we just get this dealt with?"
"H-Heroes. I-We will have no issue assisting you. Give us but a moment. Gather the others from upstairs! We must assist the heroes!" The mage answered, then yelled.
Naofumi would be lying if denied how nice it had been to be treated as a hero lately. Cal Mira seemed to respect the heroes specifically, but the positive attitude and ease of assistance wasn't going to remain a unique feature of the archipelago. His next destination was Siltvelt, a place that literally worships him. He'd need to remain level-headed and not be swept up in the niceties.
The class upgrades were as they had come to expect, doubling the stats of Rishia and Walter. Rishia's stats were apparently still around half the average person's stats should be at her level, but both Itsuki and Rishia seemed pleased. It seemed far less impressive to everyone else, but considering Rishia's starting position, they had made a lot of progress in just a few weeks.
Walter was over the moon. Between the whip method lowering his level and now the doubled stats, Walter had more stats than he thought he'd have at level 100. Naofumi had to practically beat the guy off of him with Mia and Godiva helping. He was so grateful for the power that he found so willingly given to him.
At the conclusion of the class upgrades, Mia, Godiva, Walter, Fitts, and Chloe left. They needed to see the queen right away to begin their next step themselves, traveling to the lands they'd now rule over or assisting another in that task.
The heroes would meet with her too, but first, they had a piece of paper with a warehouse number on it.
The heroes were on their way to collect their 'reward'. They were made keenly aware of the differences between how Mirellia ran things and how Aultcray ran things. Aultcray had a party after a wave's defeat, Mirellia had a post battle debriefing. Aultcray handed out coin as a prize, Mirellia issued them a share of loot that was specifically useful to them, having far greater uses for coin than simply throwing it about.
They understood that the days of parties and reward money was long behind them in Melromarc. So they'd hope this last reward, one that they only got by circumstance, was a good one.
They walked up to the warehouse in question, near the stables near the east entrance to the capital. That was when they realized… The addresses for each of them were slightly different. All five of them were given a different warehouse number…
"Which means…" They all collectively understood.
Naofumi approached the warehouse he was assigned and was greeted by two guards. They acknowledged him with a slight nod and opened the door and stepped back. Naofumi walked in, nearly falling over as Leon rushed past him.
The warehouse had a lot of boxes laid out on the floor and several shelves. All full of ore with a few having monster parts. Leon went straight for the good stuff, finding it in no time and began sorting. Leon was never one to voluntarily work, so seeing him sort through the materials and seem overjoyed doing it was odd.
"Yeah, sorting first, I guess." Naofumi eventually said.
They all got to work sorting their materials. The other heroes were likely having a harder time than them. They had Leon who sorted faster and more precisely than the rest of them combined. They'd imagine Motoyasu would be at it all day. Or he would have, had he not simply absorbed or stored everything that didn't seem noteworthy to him.
"This is boring." Filo complained.
"What? This is great! Dad got all kinds of cool things." He began grabbing a few things.
"This is weird metal that's heavier than most and is valuable. I bet it'll unlock a cool shield." Leon showed.
"Or this! It's not ore at all. It's an uncut gem!" He raised it high.
"But… they're just rocks…" Filo wasn't impressed.
Leon needed her to see the light. "They're super cool rocks that-"
"Just rocks." Filo interrupted, not caring for his explanations.
"..." The others figured they were about to start yelling, but Leon was too overjoyed at the treasure to take the bait, much to Filo's disappointment.
After a bit, Leon was done sorting. He had the majority in two piles, one was low-end ore to be used for Motoyasu's smelting method, the other pile was decent ore that'd best serve Naofumi by being used to slot into his shield forms via Itsuki's method. The two remaining piles were much smaller. A pile of higher-end materials that'd likely unlock a new shield if absorbed, and a pile of materials that Leon begged his dad to make accessories out of instead.
Naofumi found Leon the most useful when he was using his value sense, even more than his magic in battle. He agreed with Leon's assessment, with one exception.
"I actually want to test something. Shields that I copy usually have better stats than the ones unlocked via absorption, and that's before Itsuki's rarity method boosted them more. So I'll have Erhart take a look at these first." Naofumi told them.
At the mention of Erhart, the kids remembered they had some armor to boost them further, likely done and waiting.
"I wonder if our armor is done." Monti thought to ponder aloud.
"Filo bets Filo's is the coolest!" Filo said to Leon.
"No way, mine'll be the coolest." Leon took the bait that time.
Raphtalia broke them up as Naofumi finished either storing or absorbing the materials. He'd place the slotted ore first, but even before that, he wanted to boost two shields.
.
[Whale Magic Core Shield] (Awakened) +6 (45/45) R
+1 def, +2 mag, +3 mdef
[Ability: Naval Combat II] Becomes moderately better at battling aboard a ship or vessel.
[Ability: Bubble Shield] Create and maintain a distance between yourself and foreign water. If used underwater, this will effectively form a bubble around you.
[Unique Ability: Heat Beam Shield (Medium)] After blocking, release a hot ray as a counter attack.
[Unique Ability: Magic Assistance] Makes the casting of magic easier.
[Unique Ability: Magic Recovery (Small)] Regain a small amount of MP over time.
[Unique Ability: Deep Dive] You can hold your breath for much longer underwater.
.
[Family Crest Shield l] (Awakened) +9 (80/80) SR
+1 to all stats (excluding atk) for each other member of your family (currently +5)
[Unique Ability: Coat of Arms] Each member of your family gains a cloak that grants defense and magic defense equal to 15% of your own defense and magic defense.
Mastery Level: 100
Item Enchantment: Level 10: Defense +15%
Balloon Spirit: Normal attack defense +5
Status Enchantment: Defense +20
.
This new shield would be even better than the [Family Crest Series] in some regards if he upped it as much as the other. The [Family Crest Series] was still his best shield, but it might not remain the case. Naofumi decided that as much as he liked these shield forms because of what they represented, he'd not pour all his effort and resources into a weaker shield. If, or more accurately, when a better shield came along, he needed to have plenty of spare materials to power it up immediately.
They next headed to Erhart's. They had to pick up Melty, but they'd do that last. Besides, this was Naofumi's chance to introduce the remaining heroes to the best blacksmith around. They all seemed to prefer some shop in Zeltoble, but Ren argued that having visited both, Erhart's shop had things worth considering.
Of course, it was a pleasant surprise to see Melty near Erhart's shop with a shadow.
"Mel-chan~!" Filo ran to her friend, no one even tried to stop her.
After nearly tackling Melty to the ground, Melty was nearly in tears.
"Mom told me that you were hurt really badly!" Melty cried.
"Filo is tough, Filo is okay." Filo reassured her friend as always.
Melty seemed happy, but kept her concern.
"We were going to pick you up in a bit. Are you that excited to do my job for me?" Naofumi joked.
"I came here because I know you hate visiting the castle. I was trying to be considerate. Maybe try that sometime?" Melty actually snapped back with a joke.
Naofumi nodded along in a dismissive manner while he motioned the heroes inside. He pretended to just be having light-hearted fun, but he was thinking. "She's nervous and worried. We need to make her comfortable. We'll need Filo to pull the cart, but keeping one of the kids in the village normally would probably help her. Introduce her to the other kids as well…"
The kids stayed outside along with a few others. They spent their time catching Melty up on everything from their point of view. They couldn't know what the queen had told her and what she had kept from her.
Naofumi entered the shop and Erhart was already at the storefront and about to greet him, but then saw the other heroes enter.
"Oh, you brought them." Erhart's lack of enthusiasm was evident. "And you're the kid's noble friend?" Erhart asked Liviccic.
They had not met, but Liviccic and Sophia were talked about by the kids before and their appearances were… distinct.
"Is that how you talk about me to others?" Liviccic jested.
"You sound like you knew we were coming?" Naofumi asked, ignoring Liviccic.
"That ferret demi-human alchemist friend already came by a bit ago to combine the kids' armor. So they're ready to go when you are." Erhart answered.
"That's good to hear." Raphtalia added.
"So… Why bring 'em here?" Erhart cut to the heart of the matter before banter distracted from that topic.
Naofumi explained that they all just received a large supply of ore and materials and wanted to see if he could make them some weapons to copy. The idea of that was very attractive to Erhart. Not only would they bring the lion's share of the materials, but they'd only need to copy the results. He could still turn around and sell the resulting weapon after they copy it. So he'd get paid twice. They showed Erhart what they had and he set up a few orders for each.
While showing Erhart the materials, Naofumi and the other heroes handed him [Karma Rabbit Swords], a [Karma Squirrel Flails], [Karma Dog Claws], and [Karma Penguin Tridents].
After that, they each gave Erhart some Kigurumi. They all wanted the good stats of these awful outfits put to use on something less ugly. Ren outright requested to use some of the Pekkul Kigurumi to make himself a new jacket. Everyone correctly guessed that he did so to retain the swimming bonus.
Itsuki then had to stand there and try not to react as Rishia requested that whatever he used Itsuki's Kigurumi to make for new armor for it to retain some of that cuteness.
With that dealt with for now, it was time for the kids to try out their armor. They called the kids inside for just that purpose.
With that out of the way, Monti, Filo, and Leon got to try on the armor Erhart made with the metal blend Naofumi and Teal assisted in. The armor covered the arms up to the shoulder and the entirety of their legs. It was a little concerning that they didn't have armor for their torso, but it would get in the way of their true forms, even with them morphed.
Monti's armor looked like a noble knight's, slender, but flowering at the ends and joints. It was a polished gray to the point of being very reflective with chainmail in the gaps. The fingers of the gauntlets ended in sharp straight points while the boots came to a more rounded tip.
"You look more reliable now." Raphtalia thought to mention.
"Like a gallant knight!" Melty added.
Filo's armor was even more slender than Monti's with softer material in the gaps. It was the brightest with a flat white coloring, The angelic look was not consistent, though. The fingertips were sharp, but unlike Monti's, they were hooked, forming talons. Her boots also came to a sharp point, like her previous boots. They seemed more overtly deadly than the others.
"If Filo had this before, Filo would have won!" Filo cheered (perhaps incorrectly).
Leon's armor was the darkest, seeming almost as dark as cast iron. It wasn't as slender as the others either. The shoulders of the armor had pauldrons with high sword breakers. The arm sections also had a besagew and couter. His legs also had full plate armor, not greaves like the other two. It made his armor look the tankiest of the three by far.
"Now that's the armor of a dragon." Wyndia commented.
The kids showed off their new armor and immediately wanted to see what they looked like transformed. They didn't even wait for permission and ran outside to check them out.
Monti transformed and the arms changed with him, curving and molding to align with his lion claws. In this form, the armor seemed far more impressive and gave larger and more deadly looking claws that his natural ones. The slender design was much appreciated, because it kept the armor of the front legs from interfering with his wings.
"Whoa, those look really strong." Melty commented.
Filo transformed and the hook claws that were previously a part of her gloves were now a part of her boots. Unlike her old shoes, this new equipment covered much more of her legs in filolial form. The arms attached themselves to the lowest part of her wings and seemed like they'd be useful for slashing, but provided less armor in this form.
"A complete replacement for those wyvern claws, just a week or so after outgrowing them." Naofumi was pleased.
Leon transformed, leaving his armor even more impressive. Seeming even more bulky with the sword breakers being replaced with spikes at the same location. The only thing his armor lacked over his siblings' was that his armor had no weaponized claws.
"You look super cool!" Keel admitted.
The other heroes watched wordlessly at the display. They were seeing Erhart's handiwork first hand and they had to agree that it was impressive. Liviccic wasn't aware how smooth and convenient the transforming armor was. He would now consider getting some for Sophia.
The heroes put in requests to purify the Karma weapons of their debuffing curse as well as commission a few more. Ren seemed to want to go into more detail in his request than the others, but feeling he was over-asking, he backed off.
After that was done, they prepared for the teleportation to Lurolona. Using [Portal Shield] and [Knock Knock II] Naofumi would move them all. Those being, the family, Ren, his party, Motoyasu, Itsuki, Rishia, Melty, and her shadow.
Liviccic, Sophia, Silvius, Isidor, and Ida were not coming. Liviccic and Sophia had already met Fitoria and saw no benefit in a second encounter. They knew what to expect from her; threats and cold indifference. Mia and the others would also be doing their jobs for the queen now, so they wouldn't see them for some time.
[Portal Shield]!
…
Lurolona Village
…
Naofumi appeared at the center of the village with the family. They could see the difference made in the 2 weeks they were gone. About a dozen buildings were fully repaired, several more seemed in the process of being repaired. A few foundations for entirely new buildings were also made, but nothing beyond that. The sudden light and appearance of Naofumi and the family caused everyone nearby to wave and greet them. He saw a knight rush off, likely to inform Eclair.
Naofumi was sure he'd have a lot of people to talk to, but first things first.
[Knock Knock II]
Melty and the others appeared nearby. They too took in the sight of the village. Motoyasu and Ren only saw it briefly before and could tell it was better off, but could not point out the differences. Itsuki and Rishia were seeing it for the first time themselves. They hadn't paid attention to the details all that much. They were expecting at least an average sized town, probably bigger. Seeing the small size and the people told them enough. Mostly demi-humans, most seemed to want to avoid eye-contact with the heroes.
Melty also took a quick glance around. Her job was to help in the ways her mother and Naofumi needed. She was a little scared that she wouldn't be that useful, but one look already gave her something to do.
"That is your manor, correct?" Melty asked.
"Um, it'll be our home at some point. Not exactly big enough to be a manor." Naofumi responded.
"A second floor would fix that… So this will be the market area?" Melty pointed to the area opposed to the manor.
"Oh, uh, we've had a bit of trouble with land disputes as is, no real need to lump all the businesses together." Naofumi half-answered, seeing Melty go full princess mode.
"You should try to create an area where many essential and high demand shops can share a space." Melty suggested.
"Why is that?" Raphtalia asked.
"A lot of reasons. These shops sharing space will encourage people with the coin to make a purchase they might not have made if not for being right next door. All businesses serve to advertise other businesses. Then there's security to consider. These businesses will have a lot of valuables and it'd be more cost-effective to keep them in a given area that can be granted extra patrols. Also-" Melty was making her case very clear.
Naofumi was seeing her points, such a setup would be advantageous. He'd need to choose an area that was still open and near the center of town. However, they had been here for 30 damned seconds and Melty was already going princess mode. He had a solution for times like these.
"Serious talk later. Why don't you kids check up on your pets?" Naofumi suggested.
Like a bolt of lightning, the kids remembered the valian.
"We need to make sure some stupid dacna hasn't got to them!" Teal exclaimed.
"Ah, that's right, evil boulder things!" Filo added.
The kids ran off towards the beach dragging a confused Melty.
"You pulled that card within a minute of us getting here." Raphtalia pointed out.
Naofumi shifted a bit, feeling defensive. "Oi, she went full princess out of nowhere."
"She wants to prove herself and help her people." Raphtalia corrected him.
"Either way, it's better for her to do some kid things, the kids too. They were seriously hurt and put on a tough face, but I don't want them to lose that childishness." Naofumi responded.
"..." Raphtalia thought about that.
Filo suddenly ran back to Naofumi and the others.
"Fitoria said Fitoria will be here soon." Filo said, before turning around and running to catch up to the others.
Everyone straightened up.
Naofumi thought fast.
"Let's move to the edge of town. Quick." He suggested.
They didn't make it out of the village before they felt the rumbling. The other heroes could only guess as to what that was.
Dozens of filolials came into view from the cover of the trees. Like before, they split off to the sides. They wouldn't enter the village for some reason, and so they formed a wider semicircle in front of them instead. The number of them wasn't that impressive to the other heroes, but they became quite impressed as Fitoria came into view. She arrived in her true form, towering over the landscape, made to look all the larger next to the small village.
Every step she took helped to knock the spirits out of the other heroes. Wyndia's mouth couldn't hang open any further and Rishia couldn't help but take to her knees at the sight of her approach.
Once she was close enough, she transformed into her human form. They hadn't seen it behind her, but somehow her carriage appeared behind her at the same time. She held her eyes shut a moment and when they opened, her icy demeanor was felt by all. It was a good thing that Monti wasn't here right now, he had more reason to fear Fitoria than most.
Everyone seemed nervous, but Motoyasu most of all. She eyed them all for a long moment.
Naofumi understood that she was basically in charge, but this was his village and he was still mad at her for what happened before, so he'd not remain scared. He had something he needed to say.
"Did you need to make this much of a show out of this? If you can see through Filo, then you know that the people here don't need another source of worry." Naofumi questioned.
"You ought to be happy that I am here to straighten out the hero that hurt your family." Fitoria found him ungrateful.
"As opposed to when you hurt my family yourself?" Naofumi's tone got more aggressive, not less.
Fitoria's frown increased. "He was doing something foolish, he-"
"He was doing what I approved of him to do. If you have a problem with that, you kick my ass, not his." Naofumi said his piece.
"..." Fitoria didn't like being challenged so openly. At the same time, she recognized that she hadn't handled that situation well before and had upset Filo. She stared a hole through Naofumi who stood ready, backed up by Raphtalia.
"Then I'll seek you out the next time such actions are needed… Spear hero, come." Fitoria turned away from them and took a few steps towards her cart.
"Um… Where am I going?" Motoyasu's fear was evident in his tone.
"Wherever I wish. Get in my carriage." She said in an even tone.
Motoyasu gave a quick glance to the others. His face practically screamed 'Help me!?'. It was mostly ignored. He slowly made his way toward the carriage. As he reached it, he turned to see if anyone was going to say anything, but Ren and Itsuki stood there. Naofumi and Raphtalia already left and were heading back to the village.
Motoyasu would need to face this himself. He remembered Filo bloodied and reminded himself that he deserved a punishment for that. He entered the carriage and shut the door. A moment later, The carriage and Fitoria were gone. Her flock began to leave, but not as fast as they came.
"That carriage is weird. It didn't even start moving, just teleported." Itsuki commented.
"Who cares about the cart. Did you see her? She was enormous! If she's as fast as Filo while remaining that size…" Wyndia commented.
"Fuee." Rishia shuddered to consider it.
"I admit… it'd be a difficult battle…" Ren allowed.
"How so?" Bakta asked sarcastically.
"She'd erase us!" Welt cried out.
Ren and his party shared a look. They didn't want to pretend to be tough, so Ren would stop pretending too.
"Yeah… We'd lose. I see how she got away with hurting Monti. Our only solution really is to stay on her good side…" Ren admitted.
"At least her demands are understandable. 'Fight the waves'." Itsuki remarked.
"And to do that we will need to register to as many dragon hourglasses as we can." Naofumi reminded them.
"True. We need to return to Zeltoble at some point and register to their hourglass. We were there before, but I wasn't aware of the global nature of the waves before, so I never got close enough to it to register." Ren spoke.
"We're heading to Siltvelt as well. Once we register, we should meet back up and teleport each other to the other hourglass." Naofumi added.
Itsuki nodded in agreement. "We'll be heading north to… fix my blunder… So I don't know if I'll have the opportunity to register to any, but if I find any, I'll let you all know." Itsuki turned to leave.
…
With the kids
…
The kids rushed to the beach in a loud and excited fashion. It didn't seem to annoy the villagers. They took their noise to mean that the shield hero had returned. That, and the kids have given the villagers a larger sense of security. What fool would attack a village with monsters like them ready to defend it, after all?
They made it to the beach with Filo reaching it first, despite running back to tell the others of Fitoria's arrival. Monti was going to do himself a favor and avoid her for the next eternity. Leon felt similar. They arrived to find the valian alive and without any missing, but they were larger now and needed a bigger home. They all got to work digging a bigger hole and trenches. They'd get few times to play like this.
Once Fitoria turned to leave, Monti took that as his cue to see what happened and if he needed to do anything.
"I'll be right back." Monti told the others.
He barely left the beach when someone called to him.
"There you are! Had me looking high and low for you." A voice said.
Monti's body locked up. He was frozen solid.
"There's no way… No way in hell…" Monti began to panic.
Monti recognized that voice. It was the voice that warned him in time to save himself from Balmus' final attack…, but it was also the voice he remembered hearing during his first wave. The voice that drove him to nearly homicidal rage.
He turned to look at the source of the voice, but apparently Monti was too slow for his liking, as his head was grabbed firmly and made to face him.
"His eyes." They were the same as his own.
The man studied Monti's face for a moment. His face scrunched in annoyance.
"Hm, I don't recognize you at all. Either way, you better be happy I'm here to take you back. If they found you, they'd probably kill you." The man spoke as if Monti should be grateful.
"Who?" Monti was lost.
"Nice try, you know we can't say their name becau-… You genuinely don't know what I'm talking about…? You don't know who I am?" The man caught himself and saw Monti's clueless look in real time.
"You're the voice." Monti answered as best he could.
"Heh, 'the voice'. Are you seriously telling me that you are an intelligent wave boss and have no idea about me? That you aren't part of the Winner's Circle? Then…! You don't have a collar!?" The man was now violently shaking Monti. He seemed nearly feral.
"What 'collar'?" Monti asked while trying to force himself free.
The man tried but ultimately failed to stifle his own growing laughter.
"This is amazing! Haha! To randomly find an intelligent wave boss who already can cause worldly fractures. And for them to not have you collared! Kid, you're going to be doing me a fav-" His ecstatic rambling was cut short by a swift kick to the temple.
Filo had felt the beast's presence and saw him holding her brother roughly by his hair and acted accordingly. There was an unfavorable difference in their power that left Filo lacking, but with her new armor, she felt it wasn't too large a gap.
"The bird that accompanied you during those small waves…" The man commented aloud, not seeming too concerned.
"If he knows that then… did I…?" Monti was piecing things together.
"Very impressive. You blow my recent slaves out of the water. If this little one wasn't such a priority I'd…" The beast went to boast, but he felt the air shift.
Dozens of fireballs filled the air as Leon stepped next to Filo. The earth shifted below as well, Teal's roots ready to launch. Melty also stood ready to assist.
"Huh, there seems to be quite a few of you." The man shifted his stance.
Monti struck the man's hand with his tail, freeing himself as he backed away. The man was a threat and needed to be dealt with. But at the same time, he held answers to many questions that'd otherwise never be known. Somehow, when he looked into his eyes, Monti got the feeling this wave boss was old, maybe even older than Fitoria.
"Did I accidentally bring you here?" Monti's first question was simple enough.
"A fracture forming from inside a world? I knew it had to be a wave boss actively mimicking a wave. I tried speaking to you directly, but a war was going on the first time and the second time you killed my limbs before we could converse. You really made me work for this face to face. Now shut up and come along. I'll answer all your questions on the way." The beast responded.
The man took a single step towards Monti only to receive 1 fireball for his troubles and Monti to take a half step back.
"So he came from my first wave during the battle with the three heroes church… At least it wasn't during that more reckless use… How do I fix this?" Monti tried his best to think things through.
Everyone seemed ready to fight but him. Then they noticed.
"His eyes are the same as Monti's…" Melty commented.
They all knew what that meant.
"What do you want?" Monti didn't want things to escalate. What if this wave boss caused a wave here? Because of him.
"You. Come quietly and I'll leave these others be, for now." He answered and offered immediately.
"Not happening." "Last chance to back off." "Filo will kick you again" "You'd do yourself a favor in retreating." His siblings and Melty answered before he could.
Monti thought for a moment. "If only to relocate this somewhere else… I should let him-"
"I am tired of losing people, so don't you dare do that again. You can do whatever you want to in life, except throw it away. Do you understand me?" He recalled his mother's words.
"...I… I'm not going anywhere with you. You are surrounded and outnumbered." Monti spoke with more confidence as he went on.
"Declining me is pretty dumb…" The man's face twisted into a horrid sneer. "But implying that I am outnumbered is about the easiest way to piss me off!" The man seemed to almost disappear and he appeared behind Monti.
Monti only knew to dodge because whatever this beast was doing to move so quickly caused an accompanying noise for him to pick up on. The man produced a weapon from his sleeve as he struck. It looked like a glaive to them, but the heroes would recognize it more accurately as a naginata. It looked like the attack was going to miss, but the weapon twisted and warped, changing the angle of attack. Still, Monti's new armor took the hit easily enough.
As Monti slid away, using the momentum of that attack to create distance, he saw the weapon become straight again. Whatever that weapon was, it seemed more like a piece of his body than a human weapon.
"You picked up on my [Skitter]? Nice. Now how will the others handle it?" He taunted as four large centipedes erupted from his body and transformed into copies of himself.
"What!?" They collectively lost it.
The same noise from before was heard and in the next moment, each of the others were being attacked in a similar manner as Monti was.
However, they seemed just a tiniest bit slower than he was before with Monti. Teal dodged the attack by altering the structure of her body. Leon turned to flames revealing he had already moved positions. And lastly, Filo was so fast that she not only dodged the attack aiming for her, but was able to move Melty clear of the attack that was coming for her as well.
Everyone re-grouped near Monti. All versions of the man seemed annoyed as they turned back into centipedes and were reabsorbed by the previous body. The last joint of each centipede stayed behind, transforming into floating centipede heads.
"You all have more power than this one limb can deal with easily. I'll have to take things slow. Let me show you the options of Merodach, The Parade." He finished by having the heads fire off small bolts of energy, hitting the floating fireballs out of the air.
"Not fast enough, [Drifa Hellfire]!" Leon used his spell while he still could.
The fire came from all directions and appeared to leave him no room to escape. He responded by having another large centipede unleash itself, wrapping around his human form and bite its own end. The head faded and what remained was a headless ring of centipede joints.
[Perpetual Percussion]!
It spun around the human body at a blinding speed to push the fire and explosions away from him. It wasn't a complete success, but it left the attack ineffective.
The children found the manner of his attacks baffling to say the least, but the weirdness wasn't going to stop there.
Every joint of the centipede ring transformed into a centipede head, facing outward. It spun again, but slower, firing bolts of energy in every direction around it.
[Firing Line]!
The attacks were too fast to dodge, with everyone being hit excluding Melty, who was shielded by Filo. The surrounding area was also struck, damaging the buildings and causing people to flee in panic.
"Stop! Leave this place alone!" Monti was becoming more upset.
"I will, if you come along quietly." Merodach offered.
Monti would not get a chance to respond.
[Explosive Arrow]!
An arrow reached the beast's ring of heads and destroyed several of them while pushing the human body back with the accompanying explosion. Itsuki took a few steps forward and tried to assess the situation, Rishia doing the same behind him. Merodach had the remaining heads disconnect and form a small wall in front of him, firing a second volley at Itsuki.
[Firing Line]!
Unlike before, they fired in the same general direction. Such a tactic would have been a threat to Itsuki, however.
[Air Strike Shield]!
The attacks were ineffective against Naofumi's skill. Dividing his power was a useful ability, but doing so only serves to make Naofumi's defense all the more absolute.
"Tsk, then-" Merodach went to try something else.
"Too late." Ren said. "Stop at once." Raphtalia warned.
Both took his back and cut deeply across his shoulders. Wyndia and the others took to Ren's side while Naofumi, Raphtalia, and Keel went to Monti's.
"What is going on? Who and what is he?" Raphtalia asked.
"...His eyes." Monti commented.
One look told them most of it.
"Hey now, I am more than what your eyes can know." Merodach began while two small centipedes fell lifelessly at his feet with his shoulders fully healed.
"I am no mere creature of the waves. I am The Parade. A member of the Winner's Circle, a founding member in fact. Don't think a few heroes will do much." He postured himself proudly.
Internally though, "These are the sword, bow, and shield heroes? Kalbur said the sword and bow heroes were a joke, but their stats seem decent. They must already know about sharing methods… but they don't know them all, otherwise, I'd be in big trouble. Still, they are on their way to being a problem. It'd be best to kill them before they become too troublesome."
"You will stop this moment and talk this out or this will end badly." Ren warned, offering a ceasefire with this beast.
Itsuki was less inclined, but would wait to see the creature's response. Everyone did their best to spread out and surround him. They'd not allow further damage to the town.
Merodach eyed them a moment, glancing to his two dead centipedes on the ground. "I've come for the boy. He is essential in my plans." He spoke for a moment.
"Monti? He isn't going anywhere with you. So leave peacefully or in pieces." Raphtalia responded.
He eyed Raphtalia with disgust. "You. You are no hero and are weaker than these children, yet you stand shoulder to shoulder with them and threaten me? You seem quite full of yourself, it seems." Merodach took a single step towards her.
Naofumi took a position in front of her, then spoke. "You are outnumbered and outgunned. Stop talking shit before you eat it." Naofumi warned.
"Kalbur was right about you. You certainly are... frustrating." Merodach began.
"Kalbur… Do I know someone by that name…?" Naofumi couldn't recall the man at all.
"Nothing pisses me off more than someone claiming to outnumber me!" Merodach shouted.
When he did, he had an abundance of centipedes burst from his body, each morphing into his human form, each wearing and wielding the same equipment.
"Let me throw those words right back at you. You are outnumbered and outgunned. Hand over the brat before this march becomes a funeral procession." He warned.
A copy of him went after each person there, leaving Melty's shadow to reveal herself to defend her and for Ren's party to be quickly pushed back. Ren needing to alternate between fighting the one in front of him and the ones attacking his party. Itsuki had to stand in front of Rishia to fight the copy targeting him and the copy targeting Rishia. Naofumi and Raphtalia also teamed up, finding it easier than fighting one-on-one.
The only person not facing a copy was Monti. The strongest body, the one that they falsely assumed to be his main body, stood in front of Monti. He was ready to attack him the moment he tried to help any of them.
"See how it is, kid? Come with me or they all bite it." Merodach gave Monti his terms.
"What the…? How the hell can you do this!?" Monti was shocked.
The Merodach copies that were near each other fought with perfect teamwork, which was expected when it was himself. Naofumi and Raphtalia's teamwork seemed to be the only such team-up that didn't fail when competing with Merodach's perfectly sync'd up actions. Ren's party was being knocked around hard. Wyndia and Leon had strong magic that could hit them all and help them greatly, but their opponent stayed on top of them and gave them no chance to cast spells.
Among them, they began noticing the weird manner this creature moved. While they learned to adjust to his [Skitter], the same could not be said to the way he swung his weapon. Sometimes the movement seemed wasted, almost pointless. Ren thought that maybe it was the same as he was when Eclair sparred with him that first day. Wasted movements to try to look cool.
But they meant something.
[Revolution: 1] Twirling his weapon by the mid-section in one full spin right before attacking made the weapon glow with magic and life force.
[Penta-Peirce] He'd jab the blade to five points near his target, creating a sigil that he pierced with the sixth jab. This heated the blade and caused some noxious gas to appear.
[World's Whisper] He'd tap the weapon on the ground in some manner and it vibrates the weapon. Instead of going away, it focused into a high-pitch vibration that increased its cutting power and made blocking more uncomfortable.
These weren't hero skills, but they also weren't a magic that any of them recognized. They began remembering that Therese's magic was also different. It could be that each world had a different way to use magic and that this wave boss had been to a world that achieved magic through martial actions.
This served as another layer of danger to them all. They could not know when he was simply attacking and when his attacks were simply part of his casting motions. They were all being pressed. At best the heroes were standing their ground, but no one could press Merodach back. The best they could hope was a stalemate with a copy.
Merodach responded to Monti's question after a moment. "I can divide up my total accumulated EXP among any number of bodies. This body is about 30% of the EXP I have in this world currently… and what I have in this world is less than 1% of what I have in the expanse. I don't need to tell you how high my level is there. Whatever you imagine is probably far too low."
Monti understood what was being implied.
"Then I suren-" Monti went to surrender, but his mind flashed to those words again. "I am tired of losing people, so don't you dare do that again. You can do whatever you want to in life, except throw it away. Do you understand me?"
"...Leave them alone." Monti corrected himself.
"That's up to you." The beast taunted.
"I can't… I won't. Just go away and leave them alone!" Monti roared, seeming more ready to fight.
The creature sighed. "Seriously? Guess I need to up the ante, huh?" He asked rhetorically.
He then spread his arms out wide and formed a sly grin. Monti immediately understood what he was about to do.
"Maybe if I get a bit more of myself here, you'll get it. This isn't up for debate. You're my ticket to losing this fucking collar!" He said, bringing his hands together.
Monti realized that a wave was about to form in this village. His mother's village. What was supposed to be his own village now. Full of the weak and helpless, many of whom already lost a lot to the waves before.
And it was his fault.
"No!" Monti roared.
[Wave of Catastrophe]!
.
[Author's Notes]
Sorry for the delay. First my PC monitor goes out, meaning no writing for over a week, but now I am working a job that has far more hours than I even need/want. So, hopefully I'll update more frequently than this, but my old speed of once per week is not likely to return. Not until I get better/fewer hours or something changes. It sucks. I know a lot of you got into my story because I updated so fast. Sorry about this.
Anyways, Cal Mira is over. Now is the interlude.
Also over 500k words!
Please leave a review!