Chapter 67

Equipment checks. For me, and now my party, it was second nature. Almost as routine as going to the bathroom after waking up. Clive had settled his 'material' arrow quivers 'just so' on this back and hip, the feathers peeking out around his cape. Usa was making sure his whip was hooked 'just so' at his belt, and his daggers (most of them he wore openly now, but he still hid a couple in his bracers). Raphtalia had her 'solid' blade out, and was using a super fine, almost glass smooth whetstone over its edge for the perfect sharpness. The Atma weapon hung at her other hip, perfectly clean, every nook and cranny of its grip brushed free of every speck of sand. Tetsu? Yes, even she was inspecting her gear, what little she had of it.

"Are you sure we should separate?" Raphtalia asked, breaking the near silence.

"Yes. If we all end up in the water, it will just be more people to rescue. Something has been bothering me too..." I replied, "The second wave happened near Riyute, while we were all in Melromarc. The next one happened around Mirso."

"The four of you were near Melromarc again?" Usa said.

"We were. And now, again, we're all near each other. I'm only guessing, but since that's the case, the Wave will happen near here. So, you guys should get on one of the cutters, or whatever they call those little fast ships, and meet the Queen's flagship. I'd almost bet a tail the four of us will end up in the water, but that just means only us four will need rescue."

They all looked a bit upset at the idea of leaving me on my own, especially during the Wave. But it was Tetsu who chimed in with, "Why don't I stay with you? I can swim super good, and you can just... I dunno, sit on my back or something." Her little 'devil' wings flapped a couple times happily.

With Tetsu clinging to my arm, the others were giving me their best 'big hopeful eyes'. Even now, they weren't speaking out against me, but they were at least trying to push back a little.

"Fine." I said, hanging the Book Shield on my hip, and using both hands to give Tetsu some scroofles. "Everyone have their own potion supply?"

"I don't!" Tetsu said while everyone nodded, "Though... I don't like them very much..."

"We'll have to get you something else that changes shape with you, so you can have them on you like the rest of us." Raphtalia said, finally satisfied with her sword and carefully sheathing it. "Though, I can't think of how to make potions you could handle with your bigger hands..."

"Why not store spells?" Usa suggested.

"That's a great idea." I said, "Clive? Think you'll be up to some enchanting later? You're far better at warming up crystals for spell storage than I am." To be fair, I was using 'my way' that was adapted to this world's magic, but he was using this world's magic directly. "Oh, speaking of..." I put on my spell storage gloves, "These are going to be so much punchier now that I have actual magic power..."

I 'looked' into each gem, making sure they all had a spell in them, and re-familiarizing myself with exactly what glove held what spells.

"Just..." Usa started, standing up and holding out a hand, "Just how much magic did you have before? Before you came here?"

He had spotted an 'empty' gem before I had, so I let him hold my hand while he mumbled over it, charging the gem with the lightning spell he had put there the first time. While he did, I considered exactly how to answer that.

I finally decided to go with, "If each of my tails signifies how much power I had, imagine what I am now, compared to what I might be with nine tails."

Only Tetsu could reply with anything, and of course it was 'off topic', "That would be SO FLUFFY!" She then hugged my three tails all at once, carefully, thankfully.

Usa turned his head suddenly towards the door, "Ah, messenger?"

There was a knock on the door, and a woman's voice spoke through it, "They are ready to start boarding, please head down to the docks."

I stood with the other three heroes, I actually felt a little warm and fuzzy seeing that they had let their parties go on without them. Everyone save Tetsu was on the Earl's fastest ship, on their way to the Queen's flagship about a kilometre out from shore.

Of course, Itsuki had to go and spoil it, "Can't even follow your own advice? You convinced us to send our parties away, yet you brought one of yours."

"Dude, she-" Motoyasu started, but I lifted a hand to tap my knuckles on his chest to stop him.

"All three of you were suffering from seasickness. Now, imagine," I paused as I checked the clock in the corner of my vision, "A little less than an hour straight of vomiting, then suddenly getting thrown into the water because of the Wave Teleport."

Ren went almost ghost white at the thought, Motoyasu looked thoughtful and conceded the point, but Itsuki frowned, "Still doesn't explain why you're the only one with a party member!"

"Tetsu? Why are you here?" I asked her.

"Cause I can swim super fast!" She said with a proud, hands on hips declaration. "And I think sharks are tasty." Her smile would rival any shark, even in her child form.

"I figured out all kinds of magic stuff to keep me safe, but I dunno about you three. The amulets I gave you will make sure you don't drown, and with a little effort, you won't sink. Past that? We'll need to buy time for rescue."

We spent a moment or two in silence, only interrupted by the Earl's soldiers rolling out cannons and the like up on the walls.

Something occurred to me, "Hey Motoyasu?"

"Ya?"

"The last two Waves. You three were together right? Within eye sight of each other?"

"Yeah. First time we were all waiting near the Hourglass. Second time, we were waiting in that tavern you talked to them in."

"Perfect. This might be easier than I thought." I looked again at the time. "Both times, my party and I arrived away from you three. We'd been camping out in Erhard's workshop both times, and arrived..." I thought about it, "More or less the same distance from you both times..."

"Huh. Kinda silly when you think about it. We can't party together, but when the Wave comes we really should be."

I looked to the other two, kinda hoping they had some kind of thought on it. But they only looked kind of hopeful.

Meh, I'd take it for now. "Tetsu?"

She stopped making a little sandcastle and looked up at me, her dragon tail wagging a little.

"Think you can shake down a couple coconuts? We got another half hour to kill."

"Sure!" She jumped up, swished her hands at her knees, then with a poof of personal smoke, she was now towering over all of us. Though, that was more because she was 'standing' like a person for a moment longer, until her stance adjusted for a four legged walk. "Lemme just... aha! Shake shake! Shake shake!"

"Seriously? You're going to eat now?" Ren mumbled as I stood near the tree, catching coconuts one by one and tossing them to the other three.

"You don't want to fight on an empty stomach." I said, taking out my smith's hammer and tapping the coconut a couple times to crack the outside.

The others (pleasantly) surprised me by taking out their own 'all purpose knives', I then had to ignore just how badly they were treating them by whacking the poor edge on the shells of their snack.

"It's weird, different world, still have coconuts." Ren said, trying (and failing) to drink without spilling it on himself.

Aha! A topic I can talk about while we wait! However, instead of starting it myself, I swished at Motoyasu's leg with a tail.

"Huh?" Pause, "Oh! Yeah! Been wondering that too! All kinds of weird things match up..."

Tetsu, of course, just crunched down on coconuts without a care in the world.

00:02

"Okay. Let's see if I'm right." I said, standing closer to the three of them, "Tetsu? Behind us please?"

Motoyasu had no problem standing in place, even tried to give me 'the winning smile' (noted, but ignored for sanity purposes). Ren looked uncomfortable, while Itsuki started to take a step away. I let him, since if my theory was correct, we would all be fairly close when we arrived.

"Tuck that under your armour." Motoyasu said to Ren, putting his little seashell amulet under his own armour. "Don't wanna lose it."

00:01

"Yeah..." Ren took a deep breath.

"Bend your knees a little." I said, "Tetsu?"

"I'm gonna pounce them! And bite them! And if they keep moving... I'll bite them again!"

Again, Motoyasu and Ren listened to my advice, a little rattle of armour from the Spear, the creak of salty leather from Ren.

I however, knelt down, and looked at the spot just in front of my toe.

"And..."

00:00

The sky went haywire, like someone was pressing their thumb into a magenta LCD screen. But the instant I saw that in the edges of my vision, my inner ear felt like someone had just slammed the breaks on a fast moving car-

And I put an Air strike shield directly under us.

"Ha!" I said as I landed on the nice flat surface of the Shield's spectral form.

"Itsuki!" Ren called out, making me turn my head.

He'd moved just far enough that only one foot landed on the platform I'd made, "I got you, little Clive!" Tetsu said, the ghostly shield under us cracking as she moved one half step over and gripped a claw-full of Itsuki's tunic.

Worried that my Dragon was just that strong, I snapped my gaze down again, let out a frosty breath, and made a set of hand seals. "Hyoga!" The ocean under us turned to ice, maybe only twice as big as the Air Strike Shield's surface, "Dropping!"

My Air Strike Shield finished cracking, but we only dropped about a metre or so as it vanished from under us.

"This won't last long!" I called out, now able to actually look around, "There they are!"

"Hands off!" Itsuki said to Tetsu, "Will this last long enough for them to get here?"

Part of my little ice island crumbled off the edge, the warm water instantly at odds with my less than perfect senjitsu. The Shield, in its attempt to be helpful, lit up with little arrows pointing into the water, "Maybe. Tetsu! Dinner time! Clear the path for the boats!" I pointed just past the oncoming enemy indicators, to the small single sail vessels already rowing towards us at best speed.

"Yay!" The ice flow wobbled as she just dropped into the water, "I'm a dragon! I'm a dragon! Sharks are tasty! I'm a dragon!"

"Defend the tower!" Motoyasu laughed, turning right and throwing his spear into the water, one of the enemy icons vanishing before the spear appeared in his hand again.

"Wave Sword!" Ren turned left, sweeping his sword cross body and letting out a thin wave of energy from its edge. "I'm not very effective here!" He slashed again, the second attack making an icon vanish.

Itsuki kept his mouth shut, and his bow changed to something closer to one of the ballista on the ship decks, than a 'man portable' bow. But it was effective, so I gave Ren a suggestion I hoped he'd take as an order.

"We're going to have boarders!" I said, "Cluster of," I squinted at an icon amidst a tightly packed formation, "Sahuagin! Fish people!"

"The hell? How do you know that?!" He asked, though he did turn to face where I was pointing.

"I memorized the monster manual." I snapped back, "I'll keep this together and protect you. Accept the invite!"

Motoyasu was first to accept, then Ren, and with a little 'tch' of displeasure, Itsuki appeared on my party tab. "Make it count, Shield." Ren said.

I flipped open the book, my new bond with it allowing me to pick a page without needing a bookmark "First boost!" I slapped my palm to the opened page, "Iron might!"

Motoyasu continued to throw his spear as fast as it appeared back in his hand. Itsuki point-clicked sharks out of the water one by one, and Ren met the first wave of four lanky, spear armed fish people with a heavy slash from his blade.

"Boss!" Tetsu called out, "Catch the rope!"

I nearly lost my concentration as a heavy coil of rope slapped into me. On the other end was one of those little boats, "Jump on!" A soldier called out.

"Ren, Itsuki! Go Go!" I yelled out, bracing my feet as best I could and wrapping the rope around myself to hold it in place, "I can cover!"

Ren was reluctant, but after one more slash he jumped backwards away from the fish people. I slammed an Air Strike Shield between him and them. The Sword was a little reluctant to jump, but he did, and the soldier down below helped him keep his feet when he landed. Itsuki also took another couple of shots and made the jump.

Motoyasu was next, but instead of jumping onto the boat with him, I called out, "Tetsu!"

"I'll catch you!" She rolled onto her back stretched out her wings, and held up her arms and legs, dexterous 'hands' making grabby motions at me.

Most people would be nervous jumping towards that many claws and teeth. But I just laughed as she caught me like a toy. I tossed the rope into her waiting mouth, suffered a bit of disorientation as she rolled over so I could get on her back, and with a grin I pointed towards the largest ship, a massive galleon with two decks of cannon ports, "Pull!"

"Hold on!" Tetsu laughed, "Gonna go fast!"

Raphtalia, looking with keen interest at the little iceberg as it shed its passengers onto the rescue boat, was trying to think of what she'd say as Kodori and Tetsu started pulling the little ship back at what most would say 'startling' speed.

Beside her, Melty was unknowingly thinking the same thing.

The Queen however, saw it was well in hand and thus saw nothing wrong. "Ready to repel boarders!" She called out, "Run out the cannons! Drop anchor! Mages fore and aft!" The ship lurched ever so slightly, "Get the heroes on deck, now!"

"Yes Ma'am!" chorused everyone.

We all got on deck, yes, Tetsu included. Itsuki scaled the rope ladder they flung over the side on his own, Motoyasu too. Ren needed a little help, and I just clung to Tetsu as her claws bit into the side of the ship and brought us both onboard. Thanks to the water amulets, none of us were even wet!

I spotted the Queen (flanked by Melty and a... 'going to lecture you later' glaring Raphtalia) as she strode towards us. "Heroes." She greeted curtly, meeting necessity and formality someplace in the middle. "Your warning allowed me enough time to gather the best water-type demi-humans in Melromarc, and gather a good portion of our armada."

"Let's hear it for magic." Motoyasu quipped.

The ship shivered under my feet, "Boarders!" Someone yelled.

The Queen stopped us from all turning around to go deal with them. "We can handle the smaller threats." She said, "We will trust the heroes to deal with the greater one."

I looked around, then over the side. The water was starting to froth with incoming monsters, and every so often one would peek out from the water long enough for the Shield to mark them as 'inter-dimensional shark shadow, or inter-dimensional sahuagin shadow. The numbers, were already looking overwhelming, but they were still just 'small fry'.

"What are you so happy about?" Melty asked, spotting my grin.

"Just a bit of a joke." I looked to the other three, "You should know this part, when does the boss show up?"

"Unless there is a special condition, it won't be long?" Ren guessed, getting a nod from the other two.

"Very well." The Queen said with a nod, "Rucolu barrels!"

While Ren, Motoyasu and Itsuki started rushing towards pockets of monsters who'd already jumped on board, I watched, fascinated, as a pair red marked barrels slapped into the water on my side. A moment later, just as they started to sink (alarming enough on its own) they exploded.

It took maybe three seconds for the water around the ship to turn ruby red, and another three before the scent of alcohol wafted through the air along with the belly-up bodies of dozens of distorted looking shark-fish-things. A quick look port and starboard, and I saw the other ships of the armada doing the same, creating their own pockets of blood-sea while adventurers fought either in the water, or on the smaller skiffs around the main vessels.

"Come on! We have work to do!" Raphtalia called, snapping me out of my observation, "Get us into the party again!"

"Just a moment..." I couldn't help but keep grinning, the idea of fighting on a ship somehow making my blood sing. While I edited the 'party privileges' for the other heroes to be able to invite people into the party, I took the Pirate Captain hat (recovered and cleaned up from the Third Wave) and plunked it onto my head.

"Heroes!" I called out, "Get your parties back on board! Raid battle!" I laughed, opening up the book, "And sing with me!"

As Motoyasu invited Kuro, then one by one all of the others, my own included, filled up my party tab, I started stomping my foot onto the deck.

"Fifteen men on a dead man's chest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

Some paused to try and listen, even as they hacked and stabbed at the Sahuagin jumping on board.

"Drink and the devil and done for the rest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

A fox appeared on my shoulder, a little black thing with blank eyes. It quickly rattled off a spell, the newest 'Zweite Aura' buff spell I'd learned, as I kept singing. Almost the entire deck lit up as people started to glow with the buff's effects.

"And another bottle of RUM!" I finished the first verse, "GET THEM OFF OUR DECK!"

I stomped the deck just a little faster, letting the sailors around us, mostly just deck hands with blades, clubs and the occasional spear, pick up the song.

Then we really got down to business.

At first, it went well. The sailors, having picked up the simple song I started, kept singing it as we fought, the boom of cannon, the lash of magic following the tempo as the fighting raged on and around the ship.

The Queen herself fought as well, though it was just back to back with Melty. Being water mages (maybe magic types were hereditary?) they were less useful than say, Usa (who had part of his whip coiled around his body as the lightning charged end flicked out at the shadowy fish-men trying to board). But they were both healers, so when they weren't pushing the occasional monster off the deck (making it a 'later' problem, or maybe a problem for the smaller vessels around us), they were weaving between groups of fighters, closing wounds, or just dragging downed fighters back. The Queen was not afraid of getting her hands dirty, and Melty had learned well.

Fifteen men on a dead man's chest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

One of the fighters caught my eye, and it nearly made me fumble a spell. It was someone in a penguin suit! As silly as it looked, she (I was almost positive it was Rishia), was kicking all kinds of ass. I filed an idea away for later, and dragged my eyes away from her keeping Itsuki's party from falling apart.

Ren and the two faceless party members he had with him weren't doing so well near the bow of the ship. It was obvious they had no cohesion in a small space, and instead of working together, they were really just three solo players on the field. I filed that away for later too, shouting for Raphtalia and Usa to move to support them.

Drink and the devil and done for the rest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!

Motoyasu and Kuro, in complete opposite to Ren, were working together flawlessly. The big puff of feathers had very sharp claws, and the smaller Motoyasu had learned that a spear was just a staff with a point end. He would sweep the sahuagin off their feet, leaving them easy pickings for the sailors, or Kuro to finish off. Or Kuro would sweep one of her wings out, a blast of wind magic sending the monster off the deck (making it a later problem, or not, depending on who was down there).

"Boss..." Tetsu, who had yet to leave my side past a couple of stomps if something tried to get away from her biting jaws or lashing tail, was practically pouting as she covered my back. "I wanna go fishing again!"

"Not yet." I said, "We're waiting for Clive's signal."

And another bottle of rum!

Clive, unless he'd fallen into the water somehow, was up on the fore topsail yard, the snap of his bow still audible from down here, sounding more like the harpoon shooting balista, more than an actual bow.

And almost as if he knew I was thinking about him, a bright white light illuminated the ocean around us.

"THERE!" The lookout (who was probably wondering how the hell Clive could use a bow like that) shouted. "Huge creature directly astern!"

Clive's bow spoke its bass note again, and a second light, this one a dazzling blue, slashed through the air to the north, in the direction of the mainland.

"Four preserve us..." I heard a nearby sailor say as I spotted the massive... thing coming towards us.

The status screen had just enough time to tell me the name...

Inter-dimensional Whale

Before it obliterated one of the larger ships. With two spiral horns not unlike a narwhal, an albino white body and dozens of window-like crystal growths along its flanks, it would have been better to call it a 'giant eel' or something. "It's got to be over a hundred metres long..." I mumbled to myself.

"They're going into a frenzy!" Someone shouted before crying out in pain.

The arrival of the wave boss had put the monsters trying to board into a mood it seemed, and suddenly out jovial little song started to waver.

Then I saw L'arc and Theresa sailing through the air, jumping up from the little ships below. "Full moon army!" He called out, his scythe clearing a half dozen monsters so he could land on deck.

"Shining lightning!" Theresa landed behind him, one of her gems floating between her hands, lightning arcing from it and chaining itself between another dozen monsters.

Damn... something was up with that. Even with all the levelling we'd done, they were making it look easy. But, that whale was turning towards the ship we were all on...

"Tetsu!" I called out, putting the Book Shield on my hip and putting the 'anchor' of my Aura spell on the Queen's shoulder as I went past her, "Time to go fishing!"

"Yay!"

"KEEP SINGING!" I shouted, putting the Captain's hat on Melty, then putting the Book Shield on my arm, and changing it to the Shield of Marius, "I'll slow it down!"

And I jumped onto Tetsu's back a moment before she jumped off the side into the water.

With how this world worked, I probably could have just had Tetsu get in front of it, turned on all of my defence buffs, and let the drag of it hitting me slow it down.

But that was stupid. Just because I could take the hit, didn't mean that I should.

"Swim right at it!" I yelled over the rush of water, my legs doing their best to keep me on Tetsu's back.

"I'm gonna bite it!" She laughed as her entire body drove us forwards. Arms, legs, wings, tail, everything was in perfect harmony.

It didn't take long for it to get within range of the Shield's abilities, and I slammed down an Air Strike Shield directly in front of it, angled sharply so its chin deflected left. A half second later, the Second Shield appeared under its chin on the left, slamming it right. As if hitting rocks, it was forced to slow somewhat, is body wedging between the two spectral shields for a moment...

Not long, but long enough. It's mad charge towards the Queen's ship had been cut to half speed before the two Shields shattered into magical sparkles. "Hyoga!"

An iceberg the size of a house spiked upwards as if giving the titanic whale an uppercut. It made a noise someplace between a roar and a whistle that seemed to make my bones vibrate, even as it beached its head on the sudden ice flow, and just plow through it with sheer mass.

"DIVE!" I yelled, "Claw it open from underneath!" And I jumped off of Tetsu's back.

She slipped under the waves, and I pulled one last trick out of the Shield before the inevitable collision. With a keening, irritating, attention grabbing wave of noise, the whale dipped its head under the water, tried to get as much speed as it could, and attempted to bite me out of the air.

"We're going to need a bigger cannon." I laughed, "But I've got one! Come on!" I used one of Usa's spells, the 'heavy wind' spell, and pushed myself down a bit faster, then turned on the Starlight Shield, the Whale's chin (surprisingly, it had stubby whiskers! But not surprisingly, its breath was hideous) connecting directly with the Shield. "GROW!"

The Shield of Marius, and the 'growing crystal' enchantment on the front burst out, growing over its bottom lip, creating more of a barrier between me and it, and most importantly, slowing it down even further as it drove on towards the flagship of the Queen's armada.

But then it aborted its attempt to ram the ship, its entire body flexing, contorting, then with a wrenching twist, it started diving. Twisting crazily, the water rushing past, it was trying to drown me, to dislodge the source of its irritation. It even started casting magic at me! Lightning arced over those crystal domes along its sides, and it shimmered through the water, over my body...

But I hardly felt it. I'd have to thank Motoyasu again for the 'lightning golem core' he let me borrow to unlock the higher resistance shield than my old Nue Shield.

Deeper, darker, more lightning, some ice harpoons, more twisting and turning... Then another sharp twist, and I caught sight of its tail lashing over its head, and realized what its plan was. It had compensated for the small amount of drag I was putting on it, and now it was going to try and breach... likely under another vessel...

"Speed equals distance over time..." I said through clenched teeth, looking back over my shoulder and the rapidly growing shadow of a ship directly above me. "Minus drag!" I changed the Shield to the Black Dog Shield, let the two dog heads clamp on to its lower lip, and I put my other hand out to the side.

A couple seconds before we would have to test the hull strength of Melromarc oak (or whatever they used for ships), I used the second stored spell of Usa's gust of wind. Like a cannon, both in velocity and noise, the Whale's head listed sharply to the side.

With a crash of water, the sudden cacophony of battle, cannon fire and magic, the whale and I breached the surface. As I braced my feet on its lower lip, the Black Dog Shield still holding in place, I did two things.

First, I kicked the other three heroes from the party, handed the party leadership role to Raphtalia, and left the party myself.

Then I said, "SEND IT TO THE DEPTHS!" And I looked directly at Clive, his position unchanged this entire time. "NOW!"

(A few moments before, deck of the Flagship)

The sudden arrival of L'arc and Therese had tipped the scales in the heroes favour. The two of them fought back to back, and it wasn't long before the sweeping scythe and blistering magic took almost all the pressure off the front half of the ship's defence.

"Raphtalia! Usa!" The Queen called out, "Man the harpoons! Your stats will empower them far better than the crew."

"Drink and the devil and done for the rest! Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of rum!"

"The Whale! It's taken the Shield Hero under!" The lookout called out.

"Good. She's diverted the beast." The Queen said, "Sir Kitamura? Sir Kawasumi? Can you assist?" She looked to the Spear and Bow heroes.

The two of them looked at her with slightly different versions of reluctance, but a moment later Motoyasu put his hand on the ship's rail, "Kuro!"

Itsuki didn't jump in, but he did point his bow as straight down as he could, trying to spot the only 'purple' icon in the mass of green and red monster indicators in his status screen overlay.

With how the world's system worked, even the ships deck mounted ballista were effected by the user's status. With how much stronger the two of them were compared to the usual deck crew, the harpoons fired by them went clear through the monsters they aimed them at, instead of just impaling them. But they only managed two shots each before Motoyasu and Kuro breached the water, the head of the Spear in the shape of a megaphone. "BRACE FOR IMPACT!"

"And another bottle of rum!"

The poor guy going deaf to the sound of Clive's bow looked down at the sudden overpowering voice, then shouted his own warning, "IT'S COMING FROM BELOW! BRACE BRACE!"

Time seemed to slow down as everyone made to grab something. Just before the shadow under the vessel reached the surface, there was a great burst of bubbles, a sudden lurching of the shadow's position to just off the starboard side...

And the Whale burst out of the water. Kodori's Shield was biting the thing's lower lip, her feet were braced and balanced on its chin, and she was grinning like maniac as her and the Whale speared into the air next to the ship. Also clinging to the underside, at the end of twenty LONG slashes carved into its belly, was Tetsu, her jaw mostly buried in a bloody hole she'd bitten through the white hide, the gaps around her work pulsing with its heart's blood.

As the beast's ascent slowed, she turned that insane smile towards the ship and yelled out, "SEND IT TO THE DEPTHS! NOW!"

Everyone started to move at speed again as the great monstrosity started to tilt like a felled tree.

Raphtalia and Usa both turned the harpoon launchers towards the trunk of the Whale, and fired. Ren shouted 'Hundred swords!' an ethereal sword appearing over his head and shattering into a literal hundred copies of itself and zipping towards the Whale. Itsuki called out 'Arrow swarm!' and did much the same as Ren. Melty and the other mages all lashed out with magic, the Queen too! Every single person on deck did their level best to inflict the most harm they could on the colossal invader, or at the very least, help tip it away from the ship as it's great momentum slowed, ceased, and started to succumb to gravity again.

Except one, which prevented two more from helping.

Clive fired at Therese, a very real arrow lancing down towards her as everyone's attention went to the giant beast and its insane passengers. L'arc, not as dumb as he acted (or at least, more aware than one might think), stopped what ever he was about to do, and cut the nearly super sonic arrow from the air, the point of it leaving a slash over his shoulder, instead of burying itself in the deck behind Therese's heart.

Not many noticed the sudden betrayal, but Kodori distracted them all again, "RAPHTALIA!"

Without hesitation, she abandoned the artillery and ran towards the slowly falling whale. Instead of drawing her sword however, she instead pulled a tube of metal from her other hip. "Usa!"

"Drifta lightning aura!" The rabbit man called out.

L'arc made to move in front of her, but he had to jump away with Therese in his arms, a second arrow vanishing up to the feathers in the wood of the deck behind where he'd been standing. "No!" He shouted.

"Zweite Aura." A little fox called from Melty's shoulder, pushing Raphtalia's stats up further even as she jumped off the ship, the bladeless hilt in her hands suddenly growing a blade of smoke and glass.

I jumped off the nose of the Whale just as Raphtalia appeared on the far side of it, the last ten or so metres, from its chin to just behind the little upturn of its mouth, slipping off the rest of its body.

Clean decapitation. Or would it be a literal face-off?

I landed on the deck with a thump, the last of the monsters either vanishing, being pushed off the side, or being killed out of hand in the wake of the Wave's boss dying.

I then looked at L'arc and Therese, the muscular scythe wielder glaring at me as he put Therese down behind him.

"No kill stealing." I said with a smile, the death of the Whale giving me the exact same thrill as the death of a big monster from the dungeon.

"You really are Kodori..." He frowned, bringing his scythe to the ready. "The Shield Hero."

He stepped to the side and looked upwards, Clive's third arrow missing his leg by the thinnest of margins. In response, his first attack wasn't at me, but at Clive. "Jump!" I yelled upwards, seeing that I wasn't his target.

With a thin wave of energy, the mast was cut much like the Whale's head to Raphtalia's Atma Weapon. A moment later, a sailor and Clive were falling into the water below, the lizard-man carrying the sailor with him on the way down.

"Invader!" Ren shouted, the sudden cry seeming to gather everyone's resolve at once, him and most of the deck crew around him rushing the pair of them, weapons raised.

NOTES!

Unlike Naofumi, who is really kind by nature, even if the world of Shield Hero has been a jerk to him, Kodori is a little more practical.

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

aKAQg4bnYu for the discord!

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

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