"Air Strike Shield!" Naofumi's shield appeared right in front of a collapsed knight defending him against a wraith. The wraith turned to Naofumi with hatred, screeching as it tried to break the shield blocking it from its target.

"Raphtalia! Same as before!"

"Right!" She sliced through the wraith with ease as it screamed in agony. It tried swiping at her in retaliation, but before it could connect, her blade shined with a bright light making the wraith recoil from her. Raphtalia got as close to the wraith as possible while keeping it at bay.

"Mr. Naofumi!"

"Shield Prison!" A cage of shields suddenly surrounded Raphtalia and the wraith, encasing them both within. The light from inside the cage intensified even more as fighting could be heard within. The wraith screamed and rattled the cage, before fading away into nothing. Soon the cage disappeared, revealing Raphtalia panting slightly with no trace of the wraith. Naofumi looked around for a moment before lowering his guard.

"Seems like there was only one this time." He decided to check their stats to see her mana was nearly completely drained. As amazing as the sword's ability was, the MP cost was quite demanding.

"Raphtalia, make sure the knight is alright, and then we're gonna bring him back to the village." Raphtalia looked confused.

"Shouldn't we just send him back like the others? He doesn't seem too hurt to walk back on his own."

They'd been patrolling for a while and every knight they'd come across was being chased by wraiths. Once they killed the wraiths, most of them only had minor injuries but their bodies were withered, looking like they were starved for weeks. After a little rest, they were able to walk back to the village by themselves.

"As powerful as that sword is, its ability is the reason we've been able to kill so many of the wraiths, and your MP is nearly gone. We can't risk running into a group of them. They might not be as powerful as the ones that attacked a few days ago, but they're still a threat. Just check his wounds, I'm going to check on something." She nodded as went over to the unconscious knight.

Naofumi looked at where the wraith died with a mixture of irritation and disappointment.

'Hah, still no exp or drops. Why are these wraiths different from the ones that attacked the village? They look identical, but their behavior and strength are completely different. And why are the knights running out of the swamp being chased by the wraiths in the first place? Momon said he'd deal with it.'

The plan was to have Momon deal with the major threats while they made sure the knights were returned to the village safely. He reassured them that he could handle the situation and they were just there to ensure the knights got medical attention, but the situation was not at all what he said it would be.

In addition to the wraiths, groups of undead came out of the swamp to harass the village, forcing Naofumi to leave Filo behind to defend the villagers. She easily handled the first group of undead, but Naofumi noticed her HP steadily dropping for a while, just another reason they needed to head back to the village as soon as possible.

"Mr. Naofumi! Someone else is coming out of the swamp!" He looked over to the swamp hearing someone rushing towards them.

"They're probably getting chased as well. Get the knight on his feet! We need to get ready to head back to the village as soon as they get here!"

Raphtalia aggressively tried to wake the knight up, while Naofumi stood in front ready for an attack. As the footfalls got closer, Naofumi could start to see the figure coming towards them.

"Motoyasu?"

Naofumi barely recognized him, just like the knights, his whole body and face were sunken in and hollow. His normal arrogance was nowhere to be seen, only having a look of terror on his face as he stumbled forward. As soon as their eyes met, Motoyasu's face lit up as he began weeping and laughing uncontrollably.

"Naofumi! You're here! I can't believe it! I'm finally free!" He slowly came to a stop as he reached the border of the swamp.

"I've never been so happy to see grass in my life. I can't believe I made it out. Haha…" His eyes twitched as he looked around the grassy clearing seeing nothing out of the ordinary.

"You're not even Naofumi are you?!" Before Naofumi could even think of a response, Motoyasu fell to his knees.

"Not again. I should've known it was too good to be true. He wouldn't have let me escape that easily. This isn't real… It's another trick…" He collapsed on the ground in the fetal position shaking and crying softly to himself. Seeing his condition, Raphtalia moved past Naofumi, slowly making her way towards Motoyasu.

"Raphtalia." She ignored Naofumi's protest and continued to step closer to him, kneeling to his level, and gently caressing his hair. He jolted at her touch, squeezing himself even tighter into a ball, his cries becoming louder. As she continued to console him, Naofumi remained on guard, waiting for the undead causing his fear to show up.

After a few minutes, Motoyasu finally started to relax, falling unconscious immediately as a result. Naofumi, still on guard, slowly approached the two.

"Raphtalia, we need to go, now. Something is still causing his fear and we can't risk being ambushed." Raphtalia looked at him with a stern expression.

"Mr. Naofumi, this isn't like how the knights are, it's worse. I know you two don't get along, but he needs our help. Look at him. Can you really say it's okay to leave him like this?" Naofumi looked down to see he was still shaking and twitching, even unconscious. He reluctantly analyzed Motoyasu's condition, to see another new status effect appear: [Panic].

'Raphtalia was right, it's not the fear aura the knights were under, it is different. But what caused it? Is it waiting to ambush us or seeing if we leave him behind? And why the hell should I save him after everything he and Bitch have put me through?' He looked down at Motoyasu's eyes where he could see dried streaks of tears down his hollowed face.

'Dammit... Fine, but this is the only time! Arrogant prick.' He turned to the village in the distance, hating how far they were from it.

"Raphtalia, tell the knight to remove his armor, we're making a sprint back to the village. If he refuses, we're leaving without him. I'll take care of Motoyasu."

"Do you think a wraith is doing this to him?" Naofumi shrugged his shoulders.

"I don't know and don't care. You were right about it not being the Fear Aura we've dealt with, but we can't do anything about it right now. The best thing we can do is get him to the village." She nodded as she went over to the dazed knight, who began stripping his armor off. As Noafumi was trying to force Motoyasu to get on his back, they heard sloshing from the swamp.

"You've got to be kidding me! Raphtalia, if it's a knight grab him and go. We can't waste any more time." As the figure slowly came into view, Naofumi was finally able to relax.

"Momon! It's about time you showed up! What the hell took you so long…" Naofumi's irritated relief quickly vanished, as he saw the state in which Momon was in.

His armor was chipped and cracked all over with several claw marks covering it as well. His armor wasn't compromised but Naofumi could see blood seeping out of the helmet and gauntlets, revealing how injured he was underneath. He was only carrying one of his blades and it was covered in black mucus that was also splattered on his armor.

"Momon... What happened to you? The wraiths couldn't have done this to you. What did?" Raphtalia looked over at him in horror.

"There were just additional undead that put up more of a resistance than I expected, that's all." Raphtalia looked at him dumbfounded.

While Raphtalia was confused by his vague answer, Naofumi was irritated. Naofumi suspected Momon was withholding information about the undead attack, but he figured pressing him about it would just put a strain on their business relationship. But now it was getting out of hand.

"What are you talking about?! We need to get you to a healer, immediately." Momon just sighed at her reaction.

"While I appreciate your concern, I assure you it is unnecessary. What I need right now is for both of you to head back to the village so I can-." "No." Just as Momon was about to tell them what to do, Naofumi interrupted him. Momon turned to him confused by the abrupt refusal.

"What? You expect us to just say, "Yes, Sir!" and run into a possible death trap without you explaining what the hell happened to you or the knights? We don't know what we're facing, how you were beaten, or why all this is even happening. You haven't told us anything, yet expect us to follow your plan anyway?" Naofumi openly glared at the unfaltering knight in front of him.

"I agreed to your plan to assist Motoyasu because you would let us keep the blade if we gathered the knights, that's it! I'm not some mindless drone willing to follow your every command!" Naofumi took a breath before glaring back at Momon.

"I've been willing to work with you because you offered us a good reward and, before now, treated us with respect, but I refuse to work with someone who keeps hiding information from me. I don't expect you to reveal the real reason you're here or even what country you came from. Hell, I don't care. But if you want us to follow your lead, you need to tell us what is going on!" Momon turned his head away from Naofumi.

'This is a risk. I could've stayed quiet and just taken the sword and left after the mission, but losing future business with this guy would be a huge loss. I doubt the old man from the capital has the kind of equipment Momon has. But even so, if he isn't willing to reveal anything about the situation, I won't be able to trust him to do so in the future.' Momon eventually looked back at Naofumi and lowered his head.

"I realize I haven't been exactly open with you about the threat, even though I asked you to fight it. You are completely within your rights to receive an explanation for what happened. I hope you understand my lack of transparency stems from the nature of the enemy we face." Momon turned to Raphtalia.

"And I should apologize to you as well. I didn't mean to come off as arrogant or uncaring when you were concerned, I simply know what my body can take. But I still shouldn't have ignored you."

"Thank you." Naofumi rolled his eyes to Raphtalia's response.

"Alright, I didn't want an apology, I wanted answers. Explain what's going on here." Momon turned back to Naofumi with a sigh of defeat.

"Right. Do you remember when I told you I had an idea of what was in the swamp and how I wanted you to be prepared for anything?" Naofumi nodded. "Well, I should've followed my advice."

"The undead I suspected was called a Death Knight. It is a large undead knight wielding a tower shield and flamberge. I've fought them before, they're strong but can be felled with proper precautions. But the monster I encountered today was different." Momon's tone became more serious as his explanation progressed.

"It was a corrupted Death Knight, made of negative energy and parts of monsters that came from the Wave. It was an abomination I'd never seen before. During my fight, it didn't seem any stronger than a normal Death Knight except for one ability."

Naofumi gagged as Momon removed his helmet revealing negative corruption covering half his face. It pulsed on his skin causing excessive bleeding and black ooze to seep from his skin. He quickly put his helmet back on, as Naofumi realized why he couldn't defeat the Death Knight.

'The Death Knight probably had a similar move that the wraiths have, making the corruption he absorbed from Raphtalia spread even more. It wasn't Momon's fault that he failed, it was ours. If we had been stronger, we could've avoided getting hit by the wraith's corruption in the first place.'

"That explains why you're injured but then why all the secrecy about this Death Knight? It's not as though you're responsible, right?" Momon looked him dead in the eyes with what Naofumi could swear was red flame.

"It's the reason I'm in this country. My country recently lost control over an extremely powerful undead that fled to this country after its escape. After some deliberation, I was dispatched to eliminate him. My presence at the capital was to establish communication with this kingdom's monarch. But after my first report on the situation there, my lord determined the king's involvement would only get in the way of my mission, a statement I fully supported" Naofumi snickered at his comment.

"I thought about establishing ties with you after seeing your match with the Spear, but I was ordered to leave the capital to track down the undead. Coincidently enough that happened to be Riyute, where I heard reports of roaring from the nearby swamps. The rest you know."

Naofumi started to see why he was so vague during their stay in Riyute. Momon was probably under an order not to disclose this information to not cause any political friction between his kingdom and Melromarc. That's probably why he won't say which country he hails from. As Naofumi was going through the information he got, Momon gave him a slight bow.

"I understand you have no obligation to do so, but I would like to request your assistance in dealing with the Death Knight. I'm not sure I'll be able to keep the villagers safe if I do it alone." Naofumi looked over to Raphtalia to see a fire in her eyes ready to finish this. He gave an annoyed sigh as he looked back at Momon.

"Fine, we'll help. What do you need us to do?" Momon nodded in thanks before turning to the knight.

"You!" The knight jumped at being suddenly called out.

"Bring the Spear Hero back to the camp your group set up before the 'race'. If the princess or any other knights made it out of the swamp alive, the villagers should have sent them there."

"Right away, S-sir!" The knight struggled to pick up Motoyasu but once he did, he quickly made a run for an area right outside the village.

"Now that the deadweight is taken care of, we can get down to business. My plan for Riyute's defense is simple. Raphtalia will escort all non-combatants to the Spear Hero's camp while you and I take care of the main forces. Once Raphtalia takes care of the villagers, she can join us. I would hope they've at least evacuated some of the villagers, but we should assume the worst." Naofumi nodded to his plan, simple and effective.

"How do we handle the Death Knight?"

"Under normal conditions, I could handle a Death Knight with relative ease, but this one's different. Specifically, I need you to block its corruption attacks. Don't try to block its other attacks. I trust your defense is high, but I doubt you could block it without being harmed." Naofumi didn't like how the one thing he could do with the shield was being questioned, but even he couldn't deny that Momon was probably right.

"Hah, I understand. Oh. Before I forget, make sure to join my party. I don't want to be robbed from any exp we'll get from this fight." Naofumi sent him an invite which Momon just stared at for a moment. Momon seemed to just stand there for a moment before finally accepting.

'What the hell?' Naofumi's HUD glitched for a moment before Momon's 'stats' came into view.

Momon Lv. ? Exp: ?/? Age: ?

Max HP: ? Max MP: ?

Equipment: ?

Abilities: ?

'What's going on? Why can't I see any of his stats? Does he have something that prevents others from seeing them or is it he's just too high of a level?'

Naofumi had never seen anything like this before. He looked over to see Momon looking at the menu as well, or at least that's what he assumed by the way he was just staring off into the distance. Before Naofumi could mention the strange situation, a large roar echoed through the plains as they all looked toward the village.

"We've wasted enough time; we must get moving." Momon started running to the village with Noafumi and Raphtalia close behind.

'Even after everything he's told us, why do I feel like I have more questions than answers? What caught his eye in my fight with the Spear Hero, why can't I see his stats, why is the undead he's hunting going after the heroes, and how strong is he really?' He looked ahead to see the back of the knight in question and shook his head.

'Haa, it doesn't matter. Why should I even care about some political nonsense of an unknown kingdom? He's strong and is willing to give us amazing gear, that's all that matters.'

Even though he tried to push these thoughts aside, he continued to have a nagging feeling in the back of his mind as they pushed forward to Riyute.

Author's Note:

I apologize for the longer wait on this chapter. Some IRL stuff happened a couple of days after I released the last chapter so writing got pushed to the back burner. Chapter releases should go back to normal from now on, hopefully, 2-3 weeks.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed it! Thanks for the support!