Ren was with his party on an inn but he didn't plan to stay in it for long, he wanted to leave as soon as possible but he still had to lose his teammates, he knew that they would probably drag him down and if they are suddenly teleported to tackle a wave in a another country then he was going to have to do some explaining.
Plus he didn't trust them on this matter, the fact that both the king and his teammates at no point made a effort to mention that the waves were happening in other parts of the world and that they should synchronize with the hourglasses of different regions to ensure that the rest of the world didn't befell to the waves was mighty suspicious, Ren was naive and delusional at times but he also wouldn't miss such big red flag. He was sure that the king just wanted the best for his country but leaving the rest of the planet to possibly die just to make sure your piece of land lives was a bit much, if anything, Ren was doing the world a favor by going to fight this wave in Zeltobe, at least he thought so.
"So should we prepare to go into Mirso village and slay that dragon sir Ren" one of his party members asked him, but Ren simply shot down the idea with a head swing
"Not yet, I have to grind a bit more" Ren declared as he got up and started to walk out of the inn
"Then we can g-"
"Grind alone, you guys can stay here" Ren said as he exited the inn, leaving his party members there half awkwardly as they stood quiet for a moment
"Oh... okay" the rogue of the team said as they sat down
"Why do you think he kicked us out of his party just for a grinding session?" The rogue comment as they all received notifications that Ren had expelled them from his party group
"You know how he likes to do things, sir Ren prefers to fight by himself and doesn't really like to have us getting in the way of his fights" the axe wielding tank of the group replied
"This isn't the first time he does that either" the martial artist commented as it was a common thing by now, usually Ren would expel them from his party when they were out to grind levels, with the justification being that it would make him and themselves weak if they had to rely on each other during such nuisance and easy activity, that they needed to fight well individually before anything else
"I guess so... just wish he would let us fight alongside him, we can't be a team if we just stay back doing nothing in a fight" the rogue of the team expressed
"Honestly speaking, sir Ren is by far the best option between the three holy heroes" the wizard of the group
"Yeah I haven't heard good things about the bow or the spear" the martial artist said as they took a sip of their drink
As the countdown reached zero, Ren was whisked away just like in the wave of Melromarc into a new location as the sword hero found himself in a city full of houses and shops while in his front stayed a large open stretch of land that seemed to be housing the construction of a coliseum? he had seen one coliseum last time he was in Zeltobe but that one was finished so this one must be new
"Gotta find the wave boss and kill it, that will end the wave. I'll probably have to deal with its minions first before reaching him" as if it was listening to him, a gigantic slug with a large stone structure in it's back fell through the dimensional crack landing right on top of the construction and destroying part of the coliseum that had already been built
[Slow Moving Destruction, Snail Fortress]
{100,000,000 HP remaining}
"There you are, much more health than I would imagine for a early boss but he is basically a stationary object so it can't dodge any of my attacks, yeah I can beat him" Ren reassured himself of his strength as he began moving towards the wave boss, not caring about the city around him or the people in it as the sword hero only had eyes on killing the wave boss and getting the experience from it, while that would end the wave and prevent more monsters from spawning in the city that wouldn't necessarily help the people fight against the wave. Luckily for Ren he was on Zeltobe, this country was well known for its adventurers and mercenaries strength so they could hold off the forces of the waves to a degree, but even if they can't combat the Waves power, a red and blue hero certainly could
the sword hero made his way closer to the snail and the first amount of resistance against him appeared, monsters made of vines wrapped around one another with white lilies for heads came in to attack him using each of their hands that had a venus fly trap that possessed sharp fangs and a corrosive saliva, they try to bite off Ren's skin apart but he dodged their attacks with relatively no effort
"[Burning Swirl!]" Ren activates a skill and he automatically does a spin around himself as a trail of fire follows his sword, this causes the close-by plants monster to begin burning rapidly and scream in pain through their venus fly trap mouths. The sword hero smirks at this before slashing the other plant monsters that came his way, after killing enough of them he absorbs the dead parts of the monster to immediately unlock their weapon form just in case he can't find any of these monsters later on in the wave
[Man Eater Venus Trap Sword LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 15 plant damage 5 attack 10 binding resistance]
[Ability Absorption I: quality and effects of plant based items are increased by a small amount if put on your inventory for 24 hours]
[Unique Ability Fly Trap: Create up to three small flying venus traps that will seek out enemies and bite them to cause chip damage]
[Skill Gaping Mouth Attack: once active your sword will create a monstrous venus fly trap at the point of your sword for 1 minute, this Venus fly trap will automatically go to the nearest enemy by stretching up to 10 meters and then will viciously bite them down]
[Unique effect: plant resistance (small), bite attacks performed on you cause 10% less damage]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"This sword isn't that good but it is exclusive" he commented on the quality of this sword, if he had gained this from a monster back in Melromarc he wouldn't try to master it at all, but the fact it was from a wave monster and there for a exclusive weapon he couldn't get easily on this world, that was enough to make him willing to master it. He kept making his way further close to the wave boss fighting off the weak plant monsters as they didn't stand a chance against his [born fire sword] and he was quickly advancing until he sees a new enemy type
"A Stone Golem?" Ren asks as the creature was in fact very similar, this monster was likely a slow moving behemoth that beats down opponents with devastating strength in order to best them. The monster in question seemed to be made of some sort of solid clay-like stone that might actually be much more resistant than it's normal counterpart, this golems had a block and almost brick like pattern to them as if they were born out of a brick wall, if anything they remind Ren of the stone golems from a collab that brave star only did with Dragon Quest 21 but he needed to focus on the fight right now. The golem swings its fist at Ren to hit him, smashing through the ground and shooting dirt up in the air by the force of the attack, Ren rationalized that this type of enemies with that much of a slow attack probably dish out increased damage and could even save up their strength for an even more striking slam on the next punch, thankfully his build was much better prepared for this enemy as Ren had focused on getting as much speed and attack as possible, going for a glass canon type of character build as he saw it. The sword hero takes this change and attacks the golem with his sword but it had no effect, the golem just shrug it off and went to grab his leg and likely slam Ren to the ground over and over until he died, but he dodged the attempt and went far enough away from the golem to have the advantage
"That should have caused damage unless... his a golem made of stone and clay, fire attacks of any kind will be useless against him so I better change things" Ren changes his sword into the [Scolding Water Serpent Sword] and with it's skill to shoot out scolding hot water pulses from the blade, the sword hero begins to chip down on the golem's defense as the force behind the water is slowly breaking to the creature's defense, Ren focused on hitting the chest of the golem the most with this attack as the more the water kept hitting the golem's clay body, the more it broke down little by little until his torso just collapse and the stone monster falls to the ground. Now knowing the best way to beat these golems, Ren begins to destroy other wave golems close by as he moved forward and even killed one or two that were about to kill some adventurers that were also fighting off the wave and as he finished with other five of them, he decides to absorb the golem parts now
[Clay Golem Sword LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 15 earth damage 15 damage 15 fire resistance resistance]
[Unique Ability Clay Change: Change the shape of your sword into different objects by spending a certain amount of MP. You can turn your sword into a mace, a hammer, a fist or an axe but no matter the shape your weapon takes it will always be counted as a sword]
[Skill Hard Clay Break: turn your sword into a hard construct of a larger sword that can cause extra damage to fire based enemies, by using this skill again when it is in use will cause the sword to shatter into various shards of clay that will fly out incredibly fast and will cause damage to anyone close by]
[Unique Effect: punches and kicks now have armor (small)]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"Now this sword is better than that plant one" Ren was thankful that at least this sword had some good benefits to it, the ability and skill it gave were good in his eyes with the versatility this sword could add being enough for him to consider mastering after he mastered the wave boss sword. He began moving closer to the boss and he was already thinking which sword would be the best to fight something that size but he is stopped by a fist flying in his direction, Ren dodged to the left and gets a glance at the monster, at first he thought it was another clay Golem but this one had vines growing around all of it's body with only his chest being solid clay, it was like the previous monster had been left in a forest for a hundred years and vegetation had grow in his entire body
"Seriously? a fusion of the two previous monsters? expected something more creative" he commented as the amalgam creature prepared a punch and launched at him his fist that extended further than that of the normal golem he fought before, he did a side step to avoid the blow and retaliated using the same strategy he used against the first golem, using [Scolding Water Serpent Sword] on it to break down at its defense, but instead, The golem was unfazed as the vegetation growing on him began to glow before the golem seemingly expanded in response
"Oh" Ren muttered as he dodge rolled from a over head strike, he tried using [Burning swirl] to get rid of the plant parts but most of it retrieved to inside the golem and the parts that were burned were replaced by fast growing ones
"I see, you don't have the weakness of your predecessors" Ren said as he decided to do the try and true method of striking hard as he swapped out his current sword form for one that was much bigger, being a broadsword made of a black and shiny material. Normally he didn't use this because he prefers speed over brute strength specially because skills were much better than swinging a big and heavy sword around but he was against a opponent that did seem immune to his usual strategy
He swung the heavy sword at the golem with some difficulty, the golem blocking it with its hand only for it to crack a little bit. Ren smiled as he and the golem exchanged blows, with Ren barely dodging the attacks thanks to the agility debuff the sword he was using granted to himself, while the golem simply blocked the attacks, its empty mind not carrying for the cracks as it simply grew some vegetation over it and wrapped it with vines to keep himself together
The exchange finally ended when Ren did a overhead Slash that went through the golem, cutting it in half. The golem simply wrapped it's parts back together before seeing that he had lost about 70% of its hard clay armor as Ren threw another Burning swirl at him, this time it caused more damage as more of the golem fell apart, having not enough clay parts to hide its plant parts.
Ren continued to attack him with burning moves until the creature finally fell defeated, the sword hero sighed in relief and changed his sword form to another form as he picked up the pieces of the creature he slayed
[Dimensional Nature Soldier Sword unlocked]
[equip bonus 25 earth damage 20 plant damage 15 attack 15 water resistance 10 binding resistance 5 defense]
[Unique Ability Pot Plant Upgrade: once this sword is mastered, the (Man Eater Venus Trap Sword) and (Clay Golem Sword) will each receive a boost to their abilities and skills]
[Skill Clay Venus Fist: once active a clay fist will shoot out with vines connecting it to the sword and it can be called back if it hasn't hit an enemy while in the air]
[Unique Effect: fire resistance (small), stone based melee attacks are now armored (small)]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"...I guess this isn't useless, it improves two other swords even if I would only use one anyways" Ren commented before running out to find the snail, as he continued though, he started to hear something peculiar
"What the hell?" Ren said as he heard the melody of a flute and the sound of very fast steps coming from all the directions around him before a tall figure stopped a few meters in front of him. It was a sort human creature with very thin arms and legs that was very tall, it was wearing a giant coat and hat that were covered in dirt and with leafs and vines stuck to it, using gloves and boots typical of someone who works with a ton of dirt and plants like a gardener, his face only had glowing eyes and a sort of mishaped spikey erections that seemed to form a mouth with teeth, the creature also had in his hand a sprinkler and in his back was a potted flower that was... playing a flute? the creature opened his hand and threw a couple of seeds that when hit the ground began to form into some vines and mushrooms, the flower in its back began to play the melody faster and the seeds began to glow purple before growing and maturing very fast. Ren was now surrounded by more of those venus fly traps monsters and a new enemy type of creature consisting of mushroom people with very big hands and legs with various small mushrooms growing in their shoulders and back, the gardener waved at Ren before starting to run away again
"Oh no... not this type of monster..." Ren was infuriated that he would have to fight this sort of enemy, this gardener was the type of monster that spawned in minions to fight for him while he himself ran away to make more
The monsters pounced on Ren as the Venus fly traps launched their hands in his direction while the mushroom men took some steps back. Ren had barely enough agility to dodge their attacks and even less to counterattack, he decided to use to create some space by using a sword skill
"[Wyvern Burst]!" Ren shouted as a burst of wind enveloped his body before it exploded outwards from him, pushing back the Venus fly traps enough so he could have some breathing room, as he knew to not let this opportunity pass
"[Saber tooth Slash]!" He screamed as he swung his sword horizontally, as a powerful air slash went through the Venus fly traps in front of him, he quickly turned back and used [Second Sword] to reuse the last skill he used without cooldown to deal with the monsters behind him
He took a deep breath before something hit his back and exploded, sending him back. He quickly turned around on the floor to see the mushroom men grabbing the smaller mushrooms in their backs to throw at him, as the white spots in the caps of the mushroom began to faintly glow, now he knew what that explosion was. He quickly rolled over to a more manageable position as he used [Burning Swirl] at one of the mushroom men to cause it and the rest to explode into a purple cloud. Ren got up and checked his stats
"Damn, 37 damage from one attack? I know I'm a glass cannon but that is ridiculous" Ren commented as he observed his HP bar, it wasn't necessarily a life ending injury but he did consider absurd a measly summon minion being able to diss out so much damage, then again they were quite easy to deal with, Ren took out a health potion and only drank half of it to heal himself before he decided to continue forward
He went through some more monsters while slashing them away as he could hear the sound of a flute getting closer until he could finally make out the vague image of the Gardener. He couldn't let that thing continue to go away otherwise it would make more minions, he launched himself forward using a skill called [Wind's blessing] to increase the agility bonuses from his gear and equipment to make himself faster and more agile, as the Gardener finally saw him coming and tried to run away, Ren used the [Gaping mouth attack] from the interdimensional Venus fly trap sword to snatch the Gardener and pull him closer as he then used [Gunpowder Blast] to create a explosion in front of him that was harmless to him but not for anyone else. The Gardener flew back and fell to the ground, it reached out a hand to try and escape but Ren sank his sword's blade into his head, causing it to go numb as the sword hero absorbed his body
[Interdimensional Gardener Sword unlocked]
[equip bonus 20 plant damage 20 plant resistance 10 agility]
[Ability Green Foot: grass under your feet will grow 10% faster]
[Ability Absorption II: quality and effects of plant based items are increased by a medium amount if put on your inventory for 16 hours]
[Ability Plant Appraisal I: plants you collect have their quality increased (small)]
[Unique Ability Green Thumb: plants touched by you will grow faster by 10% for a maximum of 2 minutes]
[Skill Gardner's Melody: When this skill is activated all plants around you will grow faster and stronger, this includes plant based monsters that you generated but not enemy plant monsters]
[Unique Effect: plant based attacks receive a 30% increase on critical hit rate, immunity to plant based magic (small)]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"... of course it's all plant based support effects, why would it be anything else?" Ren commented as he sighed since he wasn't a support player at the slightest but he appreciated the plant appraisal and absorption effects for what they were worth as he then glanced at the mutilated corpses of the minions he fought
"Better absorb its minions too, but I bet it's just gonna be an improvement for the mush series" Ren said as he also grabbed some of the defeated minions as well to absorb
[Interdimensional Fungus Warrior Sword unlocked]
[equip bonus 30 poison damage 20 plant damage]
[Unique Ability Mushroom Bomb: Your sword will generate up to three poison mushroom orbs on it's blade when this form is equipped, you can grab them and throw them at enemies to cause a short radius poison explosion]
[Skill Toxic Cloud: unleash a burst of poisonous spores on a radius around you that slowly drains the MP of your opponent upon activation, enemies hit by this attack will have their max HP lowered for 5 minutes]
[Unique Effect: poison resistance (small), damage to mushrooms increases by 20%]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"Great, now I-" he was cut off by a nearby explosion as he figured he was close to the boss, approaching the sound he finally reached the center of the coliseum as he saw the snail fortress in the middle as well as some adventurers trying to fight it.
"Finally, the boss" Ren said as he ran to try and reach the snail so he could kill it, he practically licked his lips thinking how much exp he would gain for it, surely something this big would increase his level tenfold.
Ren knew the sort of pattern of this wave boss: it never moved so the boss was a stationary object, the main source of attack from this monster were small goblins shooting poison arrows from the castle above and once in half health it would begin shooting cannon balls from the windows of it's castle. Tricky for a beginner but Ren was sure that he could out run any of the snail's attack and cause significant amounts of damage, he was confident that a simple combo of his [thousand knives slash] skill and his [thunder griffin sword] would end the wave quickly, but a cannon ball that would have ripped through a normal person's chest is shot right at him as the snail seemingly noticed him, as in the vision of the beast, his sword emitted a glow that it was flaring up it's sense with killing intent, most cannons on the side of the fortress turned towards Ren as the snail started to shoot
"It already skipped to phase 2? it wasn't supposed to do that" Ren was surprised that the boss didn't even lose 5% of it health was already in phase two, even more at the fact it was focusing him those other adventurers were attacking it directly, they should be aggro for the snail and yet it was locking targets at him. The cannonballs (that were actually flaming snail shells) began to rain down on Ren as he nearly dodge many of them until one landed right were he was stepping towards. The explosion sent him back as he fell to the ground barely able to hold his eyes open as he heard a ringing in his ear, the last thing he saw was a cannonball going directly at him before he closed his eyes for impact
"You Okay, Ren?" A soothing voice called out to him as Ren opened his eyes to see a figure, as his eyes opened fully he was able to see that it was Superman reaching out a hand for him. The sword hero was shock at seeing the shield hero here but it suddenly clicked, he hadn't seen or heard of him in the entire month he spent in Melromarc, and if Ren could reach Zeltobe after a week of travel then he should be able to and synchronize with their hourglass
"I didn't need your help, I could have dodged it" Ren said as he slapped the man of steel hand away in anger as this ruined his strategy to get stronger if he was here to stop the exp gain
"We don't have time for egos here, we need to end the wave as soon as possible" superman said as he turned to look at the snail he tried looking through the snail with his x-ray vision but found he couldn't, as not just the shell was made of lead but all of the snail was filled with it in its body. He was about to activate his heat vision when suddenly Ren pushed him aside
"Stay out of my way, stand in the sidelines" Ren said as he didn't want the shield hero to get too close so that it would cause the adverse effect of not gaining exp
"Guuuuullllrrrrgh!" the snail let out an almost defying gurgling sound as adventurers began attacking it from all sides, Ren marched forward as he prepared himself to kill the boss and claim his reward, superman just sighed as he went and drilled under the ground as he started to get in position to pick up the snail and take it to a safe location or the sun, however when he emerged from the ground beneath the beast he found a problem, hard as he tried he couldn't get a grip on it, the thing was too damn slippery. He flew out from beneath it and decided to try and punch it but his fists slid right off, he went for the shell but when he struck it, he was tased with a high amount of electricity, enough to send him back. He looked up to see a Tesla coil at the top of the fortress shell which was most definitely electrifying the shell he turned on his heat vision to destroy it but the Tesla coil made a force-field around itself to block it. Superman tried to use his heat vision on the snail body and it seemed to be working but not a scale that was quick, the snails slimy gel was great at protecting from the heat and the snail produced more of it than he was able to evaporate, the monster almost felt like it was made to counter anything he could throw at it. Ice breath was probably his best option but considering how everything else had fail, the monster probably had some form of internal heating to stop itself from being frozen
This was not the fist time he saw this, first the copycat and then a giant beast he fought in order to protect a small community living on an island, that thing seemed to grow with every strike or blast he threw at it. Some Waves seemed radically stronger and more experimental compared to others that seemed much weaker than they should, were the Waves trying to adapt to him? Was there a reason for this imbalance between them? Were they somehow conscious of his acts of defiance against their invasion? The only pattern seemed that they targeted anywhere populated no matter how small the amount of people in any corner of the world. Physiological questions about the nature of these events would have to wait as he needed to find a way to stop this before more people got hurt
"Well, I'm open for suggestions" Superman says as he lands close to Ren who also decided to stop to think after using all his skills on the snail, too focused to have seen the man of steel in action, otherwise he would be questioning him on how he could fly and shoot lasers
"And we barely chipped through its health, even with my best skills and the other adventurers attacking... the boss only lost a fifth of its health..." Ren said as he looked at the boss health bar thinking that the bulk of the damage the boss suffer was because of him
"What wouldn't I give for a giant salt dispenser..." Superman comments as he tries to think of something, a salt shield would hardly be of help as it would be too small in effect to work on a snail this big
"Wait... that's it! This might be the dumbest thing possible, but when out of options we gotta try anything" Ren exclaimed as superman's silly comment gave him a idea which was worth trying considering the circumstances
"What are you thinking?" Superman says with a smile on his face as he looked at the sword bearing youth
"Salt, if I get a salt sword I can enhance it to the maximum it could deal damage to that" Ren explained his crazy plan, this was not something he would attempt or even think of in normal circumstances but it was something. Superman ears perked up, as he heard cries of help all across the city
"I have to go help some people, can you handle it for a few seconds?" Superman asked as he would have to leave to go save some of the civilians and adventurers that were still in the city fighting or trying to escape the monsters
"Of course I can, I'm-" as Ren was looking away he felt a gush of wind pass through his side, he looked and saw the shield hero gone and a bag of salt on the floor "How did he... Doesn't matter right now"
He crouched down and picked the bag up before placing it in the gem of his sword as it was absorbed
[Salt Sword LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 2 attack, 5 agility]
[Unique effect: 10% more damage against mollusks, protection against fiends (small)]
[Mastery Level: 0]
"Please work" Ren said as he started to use his strengthening methods on the salt sword, going all out on it
[Salt Sword LV Mastered]
[equip bonus 5 attack, 20 agility]
[Skill Very Quick Salt Splash: unleash a slash of salt that travels and comes out as fast as your agility stat]
[Unique Effect: 500% more damage against mollusks, protection against fiends (overwhelmingly massive)]
[Mastery Level: 50]
"Yes! now I outta-" a cannonball almost hitting him on the side took his attention back to the snail, he equipped the sword and went on to get closer, narrowly dodging explosions as cannonballs were shot at him
"[Very Quick Salt Splash]!" Ren exclaimed as he jumped over a explosion as he was close to the armored slug for it to be in the effective range of his skills. A wave of salt in crescent moon shape was shot out of the sword's blade, when it hit the snail slimy flesh it seemed to have done nothing, but then it started to make a sizzling sound and bubbles started to form and pop as it melted
"Glllllurrrrgghhhh!?" the wave boss muttered as it felt the burning pain as it flesh melted, Ren smiled ear to ear as he started to spam the skill over and over again, the snail fired its cannons again but now without focus. The pain it felt, something it never felt in its short existence was excruciating, not even the flying man's attacks hurt as much as this, those were like someone poking you with a finger compared to having acid thrown at you
It continued for a few more moments, as Ren panted out tired as he saw his once massive foe was practically a puddle on the ground as the head of the slug finally began to join the melted mess on the floor, leaving behind only its shell. Ren looked up and saw that the sky was turning blue again as he sighed in relief that this was over.
He looked over to the giant shell left by the creature, ready to absorb it's entirety for the sword it would give and he had to move fast before the shield hero got to it first. Due to how massive it was he was considering having someone break it into smaller pieces but time was of the essence as he needed to get back to Melromarc, so placing his sword's gem on the shell it starts absorbing the thing with various crunching of metal coming from the shell being compressed to enter the relatively tiny sword. After a few minutes it was completely gone and now Ren had a new sword
[Slow-Moving Fortress Sword LV 1 unlocked]
[equip bonus 250 defense, 250 magical defense, 50 magic, 150 HP]
[Skill Fortress Wrath: by striking the ground with force and spending SP, create a shell barrier around you that can shoot outwards with cannons. It will last proportionally to your SP amount]
[Unique Effect: 500% less damage taken when equipped, however speed is cut drastically in exchange as you become a immovable object capable of only the tiniest of moving]
[Mastery: 0]
"I hope this was worth the pain in the ass of a Wave, let me check my level..." Opening the status magic gave him a gratifying surprise that made this all worth
"75! Alright, I went up 40 levels! I knew doing these alone would be better" Ren was more than happy by this development as it was all he wanted from this venture, seeing how it is to tackle a Wave by himself and how much experience he could gather from it. Now he was way past Motoyasu and Itsuki so he wouldn't have to worry about them hogging his experience during the coming wave in Melromarc, he could focus on increasing the strength of his sword and maybe relax a bit for the week as he would need to find a new spot for strong monsters to grind. But in the fact he gained this experience he wondered about the shield hero
"Wonder where that... Nah, I got the experience and the monster drops, shouldn't have to worry about him being here now that I have the level advantage" Ren dismissed any worry he had of the shield catching up for now as he felt like he was at the top of the world, and from all he knew the shield still was the worst weapon so any new form it got would be inferior in comparison to his sword
'I must be able to use the teleport sword now that I'm pass the level cap for the ability...' Ren thought as he began circling around his status magic to equip the sword but he didn't notice the increasingly closer sound of footsteps
"Sword hero! There you are!" A man approached Ren, he looked tired but from his armor it was clear he was an adventurer if not a knight himself, hard to tell as Zeltobe doesn't seem to have a conventional form of army with uniforms and the sort, it was all adventurers from guilds or mercenaries.
"On behalf of all the country of Zeltobe and it's people I thank you for protecting us from the Wave, I hope this gift can be of any use to you" He put a hand in his chest in salute before bowing to the hero, Ren didn't really care for this stuff but from his game experience he was about to receive something like a item for beating the wave
"This medal is worn by the best fighters in all the land, it will give you a discount of 50% in any store or guild derived from Zeltobe" he handed out a medal that was split between the collars black and orange with the orange side having an eye, the border of the medal was a glittering silver color that was likely magic metal. It was nice looking and it had a pretty good effect, just showing this meant he would save money so he took the medal and put it in his scarf as a brooch of sorts
"Thanks, I better get going. Have other places to be" He said in his usual cool tone before teleporting away with his [Dragon Hourglass Sword] as Superman watched from a distance as he helped an older man get out of some rubble
"Couldn't even wait to help with the reconstruction..." Clark said in what felt like a sarcastic tone, as the whole city was in desperate need of repairs from the small things to a whole stadium now in ruin, but all the broken clay remains everywhere would come in hand on that regard
Arriving back on Melromarc not far from where his party was, Ren walked back to the inn with a confident expression and as he opens the door he sees all his companions waiting for him
"Lord Ren, you seem cheerful. Did your monster grinding go well?" the martial arts of the group shouted as she made eye contact with the hero, rarely did they see Ren smile like that as he always played it cool and serious but he seemed very content, only reason must be that something great happened while he was fighting monsters.
"I got too deep into the grind, but I came out of it better than ever. I reached level 70" Ren said as he didn't want to reveal just yet what he was up to, maybe later on he could bring them along to gain some levels as well but he was sure they would try to convince him not to do the Waves outside of Melromarc alone
"Really?! Wow I didn't think a hero could grow exponentially fast like that, what did you fight?" His axe wielding companion spoke as he didn't know such strong creatures were around these parts, he too wanted to fight it and gain some of this experience but they would need to increase the level cap by going into the church.
"A pretty annoying damage sponge but once I figured out it's weakness, it became a cake walk. I'll put you all back in my party so we can go out tomorrow, we have a dragon to slay." With the Waves threat subdued for sometime, it was best to focus on some of their quests given by the guild and with his new level it would be easy to defeat a dragon terrorizing some people.
"Oh, and get anything you want in gear or food before we leave. I'll pay" Ren smiles at his party as they all looked at each other confused but enthusiastic about doing a shopping spree before they leave on a big trip, they all begin talking as Ren lay on his chair feeling better than ever and more sure than ever that he was the best hero amongst the four, too bad he couldn't use this bragging rights without revealing his leveling scheme, but at least he knew that Itsuki and Motoyasu now needed to catch up to him which was great. He couldn't stand their egos since that party after the first Wave.
"So, how was the wave?" Alexandar asked as he sat in his room within the Guild he helped open and turned into the main political building of the region once he became the country's leader, the entire place was decorations of monsters slayed as trophies. Alexandar himself was polishing one of his many swords, behind him was a large window that had view to a form of arena
"Casualties were in a minimum sir, barely hit the triple digits as the only people that died were on the grounds around the wave boss" a member of the guild reported to him the information gathered from multiple guild members in the wave along with their best spies that keep watch of the event
"The gladiatorial stadium was destroyed in the beginning of the Wave, but as to be expected from the shield hero he made a new stadium using the clay remains of monsters fallen in the wave. He was responsible for multiple accounts of rescue during the wave" it was yet another level of kindness from the shield hero to go out of his way to help rebuild from the destruction caused by the Waves, even if he was occasionally ending slave trading operations whenever the conditions of the slaves were below his standard, which was the fact they were slaves. But the shield is known to be against such practices in the texts
"And the sword hero?" The man asked as he shed the sword into its pummel, putting his hands together waiting for the details.
"He was fighting the whole time, focused exclusively on the boss and delivered the finishing blow. He has returned to Melromarc, but he accepted your gift." He continues the report, it was good that the sword hero focused solely on fighting the wave as the shield hero seemed to prioritize saving people before fighting and he didn't seem to make all his fights an instant win by means of brutality, he was the most powerful being on the planet if he used his full force certainly he could turn the battle into a bloody massacre which would be glorious to see, at least that's what the guild member would do with that level of power.
"As long as his wearing that we can keep a closer eye to his adventures, make sure to know all we need about him... If I may ask what do you plan on using this information for?" The guild member asked as the sword hero wasn't as good of an acquisition as the shield hero, so why focus on getting him on their side? Alexandar gets up as he walks to one of the trophies in the room, a large skeleton that also was used to keep many of his swords.
"I always wanted a son, someone to carry out my work after I eventually pass away one day... and what better successor could there be other than a legendary hero?" He talked as he looked around every single one of his achievements within the room, testimonies for his ferocity and strength in combat against some of the deadliest predators within the country, even the world.
"His still too soft, delusional to just how harsh the world can be. But I'm sure we can change his mind with the right motive and tools. For now we keep a friendly and encouraging face to him, gaining his trust should be our first priority" Alexander put his hands behind his back as he keep thinking of the long term benefits of molding a hero towards the ideal of Zeltobe, and told a successor in his image so that the world would always have a piece of his legacy to look at. Superman was proof enough that you need to do something big to leave a mark, his presence itself was reshaping the world in small but significant ways, every day he reminded people that they needed him, that he was the top dog of the world, who wouldn't want to leave that same impact? Who wouldn't want to leave a mark in the world that will stand the test of time? If he couldn't do it the way Superman did then he would find another way.
"Yes, sir! In other news we have prepared your cage match, we found a few remaining wave monsters and rallied them up to the arena" the guild member informed him before bowing down once more
"Good, can't let myself get too rusty in the times we live in" Alexander concluded as he looked through the stain glass of his room to see the monsters being put in the ring to fight it out, they had newly inked monster crests of the highest level to make sure they would obey and those who didn't? Had the pleasure of being put through the painful experimentation and research for a even stronger form of seal.
[Author's notes]
Back with a new chapter. Leave a comment as it really helps supporting the fanfic, I am interested in seeing your opinion on the chapter as I actually had a friend write part of it as I didn't have much time to focus on both this and the Batman fanfic with how much stuff happened this month, it felt like all flew by so fast.
Writing waves can be tricky specially when it's with another hero, but I hope the content within this chapter was enjoyable
Doing some foreshadowing that will take a while to pay off involving Zeltobe, but in the meantime I want to ask what you guys would like to see in the next chapter between these options:
A- Galileon confrontation along with a development revolting around Sardina, teaser at the end of a new enemy
B- a Motoyasu focused chapter revolting around the Bioplant, with a part of Melty arriving on Melromarc along with the help of Superman
C- a chapter focused on Itsuki's violent revolution in a neighboring country and confrontation against superman, with a development regarding Shieldfreeden's hammer Hero
(All of these things will happen, but I want to know what you're more interested in seeing first as I haven't yet decided the order of which the chapters will happen)
I wrote this in my Shazam One-Shot(still debating whether to continue that one or leave it as a One-shot) but I don't know that much about the Flash to make him work on a shield hero fanfic as the problem is his speed, I can't decide on what speed he should be able to move that wouldn't feel too slow but not so fast it breaks the verse four times over.
I have read only the 2010 run before Flashpoint so I have limited knowledge here, but he is literally too fast for the shield hero plotline so if I have to write him, I have to slow him down to a manageable level. Guy can think in an attosecond, nothing can react to that and even with a 1 attack limitation, the Flash could deal a thousand punches in one second to his opponent if he wanted to. So there is literally no obstacle I can put in his way for the narrative to go beyond a One-shot, only reason he would even stay in Melromarc is to prove himself innocent (Madvocate's videos on CW'S Flash has opened my eyes to just how badly super speed can be written, I really don't want to commit those same mistakes without a good justification or a well written narrative)
Writing comic book characters is annoying due to people wanting to know exactly what version I'm using, I prefer to take the basic and well known qualities of the characters to make my own version because continuity can be a bitch, especially for comic book characters with hundreds if not thousands of appearances (I have honestly been thinking of rewriting the first chapter of the Superman fanfic to remove the ties to the death of Superman event, just so I can be a bit more flexible with the character, it's not like we don't have a trillion different Earth 1 across adaptations)
Super heroes in general break shield hero because they are already established heroic characters that think in a much different manner than Naofumi, therefore they don't do or take the same paths as the original narrative. It could be interesting, I experimented with that in this chapter but the problem comes when you have to continue on, without the original railroaded path of story it becomes hard or complicated to know what would happen, like does the character acquire a filolian? Do they go a similar enough route as Naofumi so they face the Bioplant or the zombie Dragon? Does the rape trial happen? And if so what stops heroes like Flash or Green lantern from leaving the country? These are fun questions to try answering but the existing world building of shield hero gives a poor job on answering these possible scenarios
Should I try inserting more heroes into the world of Shield hero? I had a Flash and Green Arrow one shot in the works but they will take a good amount of time if ever to be done, I need to find a right balance on Flash's speed to write him somewhat consistent because I don't want to end up making a CW Flash that can react to bullets and lightning but not average speed punches. Green Arrow is tricky because I don't know what type of narration I want, do I stay with a third person or experiment with the first person? I don't know which is better, his personality makes for an interesting first person but third person is what I am used to.
Others have power sets that are too powerful or complex for shield hero, would a Green lantern's ring count as a weapon? If Captain America was the shield hero would the shield morph its base form to resemble the adamantium shield he wears while also having it's properties, or would it just bring the shield with it? Would Blue Bettle's exoskeleton suit from the beetle be considered part of his body or a external thing? Could a weapon's definition on what is or isn't allowed change depending on the wielders view point? Like could Tony Stark convince the shield that armor is nothing more than a shield to the whole body you can wear? If Martian Manhunter was the shield hero would the shield adopt Martian qualities or would the shield affect his powers? If a god like Thor was summoned would he have enough power and authority to flat out remove the attack limitation or command the shield to find someone else as it's wielder? I honestly don't know what could or couldn't be allowed, which is part of the fun but I feel some people wouldn't be happy if I went around changing how the shield works
Also any wonder woman fans could give me an ACCURATE and GOOD explanation of her character? I want to write a Wonder Woman one shot to complete the DC trinity, but I don't have enough knowledge of her character as I began reading the most recent run of Wonder Woman and I don't know if that is the best to understand the character, neither do the cartoons feel like they paint the full picture on what her character is
They only really began to push her more recently, and without any notable cartoon or video game of her own. It becomes hard to pin down what exactly her character is supposed to be currently, she doesn't have a definitive adaptation like Batman the animated series or The Christopher reeves Superman movie that just understands the character in a way that defines this version not only as a classic, but a good way to know what the character is about. She's supposed to have a mission of peace, but a few of her adaptations have her be a warrior type that doesn't try to solve things peacefully before or after, and let's not talk about Injustice Wonder Woman
If they pushed Wonder Woman as much as they do the Suicide Squad and Harley Quinn, maybe I wouldn't have this problem writing Wonder Woman as she is the least represented of the Trinity. Anyway time to answer some reviews
To AnimeFan13579: I really don't want to write Motoyasu getting a female filolian due to the creepy implications and the fact I would have to write a pedophile as one of the important characters, so there will be a justification for why he only has Midori and thinks he's a separate case (regarding his angel form that is, after all the idea is that Motoyasu grows as a character from raising Midori)
To Ornitorrincoagen: Aultcray was already not seen that greatly if we can be honest, but Superman's good deeds are all honest in nature thus harder to warp around and the fact he helps people as much as they need or more without demanding ludicrous if any rewards also win him the popular vote, in the end honesty always shines through
To UrracaUltrasonica: a civil war is hard to happen as Mirellia would immediately send Melty over if the rumor of such a thing was in place, and Superman would favor Melt to take the throne from Aultcray if it meant that real difference could be made for the good of others
To zanzara: Motoyasu doesn't have a Filolian Queen but a Filolian King as I have made clear in the chapters and notes. Itsuki has something planned for as he's the first hero I plan to give a wake up call, work on his chapter should begin by the time I'm done with this chapter. The Fayon Siblings are going to appear although not right away, have to decide which chapter they should make their appearance but I got a little idea