Chapter 4: the wave of catastrophe
It had been a week since the Hydra battle and Bakugou and Neia had been on the move lately, visiting multiple different local towns that surround the capital area.
After healing the desperate man's elder mother Bakugou had decided to start out a small free healthcare business where he and Neia would travel town to town under the pretense of healing the injured and sick from those that were still suffering from the first wave or from regular diseases or injuries of this world.
This gave Bakugou the excuse to visit more towns to not get too complacent in one region of this country but also to give him a good image as he was now being seen as a magic miracle healer.
Though he had been going by a fake name as no one would want help from an accused rapist shield devil and been transforming his shield into one of his magic books to no longer resemble a shield. Despite this being his logical excuse, he can't help but feel proud of himself from helping people like this, he never intends to be a rescue or support hero back at home but it does put a small smile on his face from the people calling him a hero from all of the crap he had to face from the King, the other heroes, and the bitch princess.
He and Neia would also still have to travel across the dangerous roads they never went into before to fight more monsters along the way, with Neia no longer fearing larger monsters, after fighting a giant Hydra anything else looks simple in comparison. Bakugou was at level 40 while Neia was at level 28 now.
And thanks to his teleportation magic from his map shield he and Neia can save a significant amount of time compared to doing everything on foot as they can teleport back to wherever they been to before.
He hasn't learned much more magic or special skills from these smaller towns but he did acquire some knowledge on smithing and enchantment skills by some of the local blacksmiths, he's been thinking of an idea he had since coming here, magic armor gauntlets to help contain his sweat for bigger and more concentrated explosions like from his old hero costume grenade gauntlets but less bulky and easier to handle, but they were only an idea right now in the experimental stage, he would need to acquire the right tools and materials to be made as well being in the best quality. He also learned about the copying weapon system, so he was now able to copy other shield stats allowing his default shield to get stronger without having to buy other more expensive shields.
While traveling he also acquired a metal trade pass that will allow him to travel through different towns without having to pay any tolls. He along with some other shields from some of the monsters he's killed he also acquired a new magic shield ability called the shield prison which would cover a target in a magic metal ball to not only imprison enemies but to protect allies from danger.
Bakugou had been reluctant to do any major quests or go out too far from the capital as he knew that it has almost been a month so the next wave would be coming soon so he and his sidekick need to be ready for that and not get too invested in one thing. He also wanted to level himself up more so he wouldn't be as blindsided from another surprise super monster like the Hydra.
Speaking of the wave, Bakugou knew that they need to know the exact time it will start.
So in the morning after resupplying, getting some newer better equipment, and upgrade their armor they head off to the three heroes cathedral. Bakugou didn't want to go anywhere near this place, but he knew that this is where the only dragon hourglass was at in this country and according to the help screen that was the only way to be shown when the next wave will be coming so Bakugou had to suck it up and just head toward the church.
Neia can easily see Bakugou wasn't big on it looking more frustrated than usual, "Are you ok Sir Bakugou?"
"Yes I'm fine, let's just find out when the wave will hit and get away from this creepy joint as soon as possible." Bakugou quickly answered her.
"I don't see what is so creepy about a place of worship Sir? My people have many temples for our gods and even if you didn't believe in what they have to say the priests running them are still honest and respectable people." Neia says
"These freaks worship idiot nerds. I don't see how that's even remotely respectable, and I didn't see any of them lift a finger to ever help me out in any way, so they can all go to whatever hell they believe in." Bakugou says to Neia still feeling extremely angry about this kingdom blindly accepting Myne's words and calling him the Shield Devil.
While on their travels Bakugou did eventually tell Neia about how he was accused of a crime he didn't commit and how a bitch partner to a cardinal hero framed him for the fun of it. And the King and the other heroes went along with it. But Bakugou hardly wanted to talk about so he never went into on with the exact details. Neia wished she knew more but Bakugou never wanted to talk more about it finding the whole thing embarrassing even if he never showed it in person. She wanted to help him, but he was too prideful to admit anything or ask for anyone's help.
The two finally made it inside and a priestess help lead the two toward the dragon hourglass. The hourglass itself was huge, with multiple different glasses of sand falling into each one.
Bakugou steps towards it as a retractable staircase appear near the giant hourglass. As Bakugou moves up to it a beam of light appears from the hourglass and the beam eventually hits the cardinal weapon. After the beam disappeared it seemed like nothing happened, until Bakugou looked at his status screen and now saw that there was a timer and according to it the wave will start in about 14 hours from now.
So Bakugou and Neia had less than a day to prepare for the wave and was ready to head out until he heard a voice, "Well look who's here." to Bakugou's displeasure it was Spear hero Motoyasu who was with Ren, Itsuki, and his own partner Malty, "Still wearing that stupid cape I see. I wonder how you even survived this long?" Motoyasu continues to insult.
Bakugou hated the sight of all of them especially Malty and tries to ignore them as much as possible as he walks past Motoyasu, "Move over, I have more important things to worry about than a bunch of annoying extras." he insults them.
"Hey Bakugou, Sir Motoyasu is still talking to you!" Malty raises her voice to him.
"Sorry I don't speak bitch or slut, mind speaking in my language?" Bakugou insults as he walks past her
"What the hell did you just call me!? Sir Motoyasu you're not going to take his crap right? ... Sir Motoyasu?" Myne shouts but noticed Motoyasu wasn't responding until she turns to see that he was holding hands with Neia. Which neither her or Bakugou liked.
"Well hello, I'm the spear hero Motoyasu. What's your name? A beautiful woman like you shouldn't have to wield a sword yourself?" Motoyasu flirts with Neia who just looks confused, though she did recognize his title.
"Spear hero? Oh yes, Sir Bakugou mentioned you a few times. You also refer to yourself Sir ponytail is that right?" Neia asked.
But hearing that made Motoyasu squint, "Err...uh..no its just Motoyasu. Where did you hear that from?" he tries to correct her.
"Well that's what Sir Bakugou always referred to you as, well actually he would always referred you to as Ponytail slut. But I assume the last part was just an insult" Neia answers trying to remain as polite as possible.
Motoyasu cringes at that, "Damn you Bakugou, you're already ruining all my chances of hooking up with this pretty blue girl." he says quietly to himself.
Malty had it and went up to Motoyasu, "Sir Motoyasu why are you messing around with the demi-human?"
Neia moves away from Motoyasu and toward Myne, "Oh I'm not actually a demi-human, but the names Neia, it's nice to meet you." Neia gleefully says and raises her arm out to Malty who only looked disgusted at her.
But before anything happened between them, Bakugou steps in, "Ignore these idiots blue, they aren't worth any of our times." he says to her.
But before the two could leave Itsuki had something to say to Neia, "So wait Neia, your Bakugou's partner, right?" he asked wondering who would ever want to willingly be partners with Bakugou of all people even before the rape accusation.
Neia wanting to be friendly answered him, "Yes, though I'm not technically his partner, I'm what he calls his sidekick."
Itsuki rolled his eyes from that, "Sidekick? What's with you Bakugou acting like your superior to everyone? You have to bring down your own party member as well?" he thinks to himself, but he then asks Neia another question, "So how exactly did you end up with him?"
"Sir Bakugou saved my life from a group of bandits that attempted to rape me in the woods. I had nowhere else to go and he took me up to train me to be a hero." Neia answers with Itsuki still wondering what was up with this random girl.
Motoyasu decided to speak up on that, "Really? Ha, what irony a rapist saving the life of a woman from other rapists. I don't know if I should applaud you Bakugou for changing or call you out on your hypocrisy." Motoyasu mocks.
"I don't give two shits what you idiot nerds think of me! I will soon kick all of your asses and my sidekick is going to be a far better hero than any of you three will ever be. This world will forever sing the praises of me and her! You'll be nothing but footnotes to my path to glory!", Bakugou shouts and insults to them. Motoyasu and Itsuki would've said more but the two and Bakugou had enough of each other's crap.
Bakugou turns toward the hallway out of the cathedral, "Let's just go blue, I think I've heard enough idiot talk for today." he angrily commands with Neia following suit without question.
"You better be treating her well Bakugou. I'm keeping my eye on you, if I find out you've been abusing her in any way, I won't hesitate to make you suffer a fate 10 times worse." Itsuki threatens to Bakugou but he didn't care at this point, 'Just as I always wanted to do to all of my own childhood bullies.' Itsuki thinks to himself.
As he was walking through he passes by Ren, who didn't say a word to Bakugou, which the shield hero notices, "Just remaining as silent as always pale face. That seems like the only thing your good at." Bakugou insults to Ren as he and Neia leave the room.
Ren wanted to say something to Bakugou but he still felt extreme shame after doing nothing at Bakugou's unfair trial and with Bakugou unwilling to listen he knew it would be pointless to try, but it still ate at him, the fact he stood there at the trial and just watch as the court roasted him over a fire. The fact he just decided to not be a hero at that moment.
As she and Bakugou left the church, Neia knew something wasn't right about Bakugou. From all the time she's spent with him, he had always seemed somewhat hostile to people, but this felt more personal and his anger ran deeper with the other heroes. Neia wasn't sure if these were the same people Bakugou talked about that were involved in the rape accusation, despite trying to hit on her Motoyasu seem like a nice guy who wouldn't set up a fake crime.
Many questions continued to pop up all over her head, questions she knew Bakugou doesn't want to answer to her.
Regardless of what happens before she hopes in some way she can help rectify it, perhaps in one step at a time.
The next day 14 hours later everyone was uneasy for the incoming wave, everyone knew when it was coming but it still didn't diminish the threat of the incoming monsters.
With the cardinal heroes only Bakugou and Ren were taking it seriously, Itsuki and Motoyasu didn't seem the least bit worried as they mess around with their teams while other adventurers and soldiers were standing by at the capital square ready for the horrors that will arrive soon.
Bakugou looks back at Neia, "Remember Blue, don't worry about size or numbers, just have confidence in your newfound strength and stay focused" he says to her.
Neia quickly nods in agreement, "Yes Sir Bakugou."
5...4...3...2...1...0
And all a sudden the final grain of sand fell to the bottom of the dragon hourglass, the wave had finally begun.
All the skies immediately turned red and Bakugou, the other cardinal heroes, and their teams had all teleported out of the capital to a forested area where the Waves full force will be at.
Weird looking portals started to appear all over were numerous monsters started to pour out of them.
Bakugou was pumped up and ready to fight the swarms, "Hell yeah this is my kind of action! Time to fight blue!" he yells to Neia as they head out to the center of the swarm.
Until Neia noticed something in the opposite direction, "Sir Bakugou! Look over by that town!"
Bakugou turns to where Neia was pointing to see that the town launch a flare, considering the wave that was happening right now it could only mean trouble.
"Sir Bakugou they must be calling for help. We can't just leave them to defend themselves." Neia says to him.
Bakugou hates to admit it but she was right, with how far the castle is from here by the time they respond there won't be much left to even save, "Damn it! Where the hell are those other idiots at?!" he shouts until he looks down from the cliff he was at and saw the three other cardinal heroes running off to the swarm along with their parties, "Hey idiots!" Bakugou shouts toward the 3 heroes, but they just ignored him.
"Damn them! They could've sent out at least one person from each party to protect that town, but instead they keep them around when they are obviously not going to use them! Idiots! All of them, Idiots!" Bakugou yells to himself over how careless the other heroes were doing with the situation.
Bakugou could only growl to himself. As much as he wants to fight the full force of the wave head-on, he couldn't just leave a village full of innocents to themselves. How would people think of heroes if they did nothing to help out people calling for aid.
It brought memories of damage in his old world with the battle at Kamino ward in All Mights battle against All for One. Even when he never called for help, the heroes including Shoto's bastard father Endeavor were all willing to help rescue him. All Might even sacrificed what was left of his quirk to defeat All for One for good, just for him.
As much as he wanted to show off to the other heroes, his duty as a hero was more important at this time. After some more quick thinking, he then finally made his decision, "Damn it all! Blue we're going to the town! Quickly move out!" Bakugou orders Neia who nodded yes without question and her and Bakugou ran off to the town of Lute to save the people before they are slaughtered.
In the middle of the town of Lute, the townsfolk were doing all they can to fight off the wave horde monsters that consisted of humanoid Zombies soldiers small and large ones as well as flying venomous Zombie bees that were flying all over.
Despite their best efforts, the town was being overwhelmed with what guards they had there being forced to fall back and the civilians were all running for dear life as they do what they can to protect their families including the small children. It seemed hopeless now, the wave monsters had the town surrounded and began to move closer to the helpless civilians.
One group of families were forced to huddle together as a giant zombie towers in front of them while they were cornered at a building, they all hugged each other in fear with the Zombie giant ready to chop them up with its giant ax. It raises it up ready to kill them, until...
BOOM!
The monster's head explodes and quickly falls to the ground dead. The families didn't know what happened until they looked back again and saw Bakugou the shield hero standing tall over the dead giant zombie saving their lives.
"I want all of you to get out of here toward the edge of town for now to where the others are at. Don't stand around! Go! go! go!" Bakugou orders them with all of them following his order.
Bakugou looks toward Neia after she slays some zombies around other civilians, "Blue we need to protect everyone at any costs, gather them up with the ones that can fight and keep these undead bastards as far away from them as you can." he orders with Neia, the two heroes then engage the monsters in town.
Bakugou uses his quirk to speed himself across one side of the town using his shield many times to block the attacks of the zombies protecting many of the villagers and then blasting those same zombies into pieces.
Neia was on the other side of the village using her speed and agility to dodge and quickly slice up the hordes.
The two continued to save and gather civilians across the infested area, eventually they gathered them all near the edge of the town now all close together.
Once Bakugou had been assured that they had everyone in town with Neia meeting up with him again Bakugou gives them another order as the zombies began to gather up reinforcements, "Blue take them to the mines and kill whatever undead bastard that tries to attack them or get in your way! I'll keep most of these things distracted and send as many back to hell as possible! And meet me back at the center of town when you're done with the mines being blocked off!"
Neia didn't like the fact that she would have to leave her master alone, but she knew full well Bakugou can take care of himself and nods in agreement, "Yes Sir."
She turns and leds the way to the mines with most of the townspeople following suit with the women and the children at the center and men on the edges with swords and pitchforks, though not all of the men joined in, a small group remained beside the shield hero, "What are you idiots doing!? Get with the others!" Bakugou ordered them.
But these men refused to leave, "Shield hero, Lute is our home and we are not going to let it burn to the ground. You helped defend our families, now it's our turn to help you." One of the men shouts to him.
Bakugou didn't need help but he also didn't have the time to argue with them, "Fine whatever, I'll attack the main force on the ground, you guys get up high up above the ground and attack the zombie bees." he orders them with the group of men agreeing.
Bakugou blasts his way into the infested town in full force and started blowing up numerous living corpses. It was quite the massacre as undead limbs and body parts explode all over the place as Bakugou blows each and every one of them up and continues to block every single attack with his shield and utilizing many of its abilities to kill more of them off, as well as helping out the other villagers that were fighting off the zombie bees up on a tall lookout tower.
The explosions created a large amount of noise attracting more and more zombies and bees toward Bakugou. It was exactly what he wanted, the more that was attacking him the less that were going after Neia and the civilians as she escorts and protect them toward the safe mines, but to the few that she does encounter she chops them up easily.
Little did Bakugou know he would be attracting a lot more than he expected.
Far into the woods of the battlefield Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had been fighting off the head of the horde, but as they slaughter many zombies the three hero's and their groups eventually found the boss of the wave.
It was a large chimera, a multiple headed beast with the head of a lion at its center, a head of a dragon on its left side, a head of a goat-like antelope on its right side, and a tail of a viper. It was a ferocious beast as it does all it can to kill the cardinal heroes. But the combined powers of the bow, sword, and spear hero had been overwhelming it as the three maintain their distances as they blast long-range attacks at the monster.
"Wind Arrow!"
"Crimson blade!"
"Lightning spear!"
The three's attacks continue to do significant damage to it as its health was around half now, it was only a matter of time before the boss was vanquished.
"If we keep the pressure up, the boss should be defeated soon. Keep aiming at the center head!" Itsuki shouts excitingly getting the rush out of fighting a powerful enemy forgetting about the large wave that was happening.
"It's my turn now!" Motoyasu shouts as he charges his spear for an attack.
The chimera continues to engage as it roars toward the heroes, it was ready to attack Motoyasu again, but before it could get close, it quickly stopped once it started to hear loud noises from its goat head. The rest of the heads looked away to where that noise was coming from.
It was coming from the town of Lute from a distance where it also noticed large flashes of light all the way over there. The activity attracted the monster's attention so much it completely ignored the other heroes.
"Chaos spear!" Motoyasu shouts and launches his new attack at the chimera, but the beast was no longer interested in the three heroes, and with its intense speed it jumped out of the way of Motoyasu's attack and started running off toward the town.
This confused all of the heroes especially Itsuki, "What the hell is it doing? It's just running off now?"
"We must have damaged it enough to scare it off, it's probably going to hide and heal itself." Ren rationalizes
"Then come on let's follow it!" Motoyasu orders as he, Ren, Itsuki, and their parties attempt to go after the boss.
But as the 3 groups attempt to follow the fast-moving monster, dozens of giant zombies fall from the sky and land in front of the groups forcing them to stop. Hundreds of other zombies began to surround them with swarms of zombie bees coming at them from above. Before they could go anywhere, they would have to fight them all off while the wave boss heads off to the town to attack the source of that light.
Bakugou continues to fight the zombies as most of the horde begins to dwindle around the town. All of the evacuated townsfolk finally made it to the mines safely thanks to Neia's protection as she helps them Barricade the mine.
Monsters still rain down from the sky with the zombie bees dominating the air. Bakugou doesn't mind it too much, but even he knew he had his limits with his quirk. He knew the wave had to end eventually as it did before he even got there, but by what?
But as he was thinking and blowing up more zombie bees a large flare was launched high in the sky and quickly exploded into rain hellfire as it kills off a large amount of the enemies in the area.
Bakugou held up his shield to protect himself and was thankful that all the civilians were taken out before this happened with the men at the guard tower fine as well.
Once the raining fire died down, it became apparent who did it. A large group of knights came to the town finally responding to the call for help earlier.
The knight commander and his men walked up to the town center with Bakugou looking mad at them, "Ha we burned them all in a single strike. Now we need to find...", Then Bakugou throws an explosive punch in the commander's face.
"You idiots didn't realize that I was still here!" Bakugou yells at them with the other knights drawing their swords.
The mad commander quickly gets himself up, "Your lucky that I don't have you executed here by my own blade you devil!" he shouts at Bakugou with the two giving each other mad stares.
Bakugou would've continued to insult him, but he knew he had to stay focus on the wave at hand so he backed away from the commander, "Whatever, listen most of the monsters were killed off now, but more are coming, you idiots need to get into formation as you hold off the main hordes, I'll be the main attacker as I kill off most of these bastards. A few of you need to also head off to the mines to protect the townspeople that are held up there." he orders the knight's expecting them to follow.
But the commander just laughs, "Hahahaha, you think I'm going to follow your orders shield. We're only here to support the 3 other heroes not to waste our time with you." he mocks Bakugou only making him angrier.
"Those idiots don't need any help; you're probably only going to be cannon fodder to them anyway! If you know what's good for yourselves you're going to be listening to me!" Bakugou insults him back.
But the commander lost his patience and had enough, "We already know what's good for us and it doesn't involve you or your stupid shield! Come on men let's just..."
"RRRRROOOOOOOOAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRR!" a loud sound suddenly emerges and that surprised the knights including the commander, "What the hell was..." They quickly looked behind and to their horror they all see the giant Chimera emerging out of the woods and immediately pounced toward the horrified knights.
But right before the lion head could bite their heads off, Bakugou blasts himself in front of the group, held his shield up and shouts, "Spiderweb shield!" with it transforming into a web and stops the Chimera in its place with its lion head helplessly stuck on the shield.
As he holds it off Bakugou turns his head toward the surprised knights, "Unless you idiots want to transform into shit later, I suggest you begin the defensive formation!" he orders.
As much as he didn't like the idea of following orders from the shield devil, the knight commander knew what he had to do, "You heard him men, set up a defensive formation pronto!" he orders with the knights falling back as they make a circle with their shields and swords out.
Bakugou continues to struggle with the monster as well as dodging the viper tail attacks as he observes it's stats including its health, "Damn, this things health is higher than anything else here. And judging the lack of other creatures like it. This has to be the boss of this wave, if I can kill it now this wave might finally end." he says to himself, he also notice that despite its high health he could see it was lower than it should be. He wouldn't be surprised if it originally fought with the three idiots a bit ago but lost it.
But the monster had enough struggling, as the dragon head finally decided to breathe fire at Bakugou forcing him to jump out of the way with his quirk with his shield turning back to normal as well. The dragon head continued to breathe fire around the ground keeping the hero away.
Bakugou holds out his shield awaiting it to attack again but he and the knights noticed that more zombies were coming into the town. The two groups are now dealing with two different forces to fight against.
Bakugou then orders them, "Men! I want you to hold off the zombies as much as you can while I deal with this thing! If any big guys go after you, keep your distance and stab them in their heads when they lower them down, but don't break your formation no matter what or your all dead!"
Despite being reluctant to follow the shield hero, the knights including the commander knew he was the only thing protecting them from being slaughtered by the Chimera so they all listened, "You heard him men, protect the shield hero from behind and keep the wave forces at bay!" the commander shouts and they continue to maintain their formation as they kill and held off the zombie hord.
Back with Bakugou, he remains still as the monster has yet to act again, waiting for the right time to pounce on him.
It did give Bakugou time to think, 'This things health is way too high for me to kill it with one explosion, I'm going to need to attack multiple times in specific places to finally kill it.' He knew that each head had a different attack and if he wants to make this boss easier to defeat, he is going to have to kill off each head to make it more manageable for him. And thankfully unlike the Hydra he won't have to worry about them regenerating back.
But the monster finally had enough and with the goat head, it attempts to charge at Bakugou at full speed.
Bakugou manages to jump out of the way and blasted it at its side only doing minor damage as the viper tail attempts to bite him with its venom. Bakugou knew that jumping up at it would be dangerous because of said venomous tail, so he knew the tail had to go.
But the monster quickly turned itself around, but this time it uses the dragon head again attempting to burn Bakugou.
The shield hero continues to use his quirk to jump away, but the fire was getting more intense as the monster burns the ground around them. It seems that the dragon head has some resistance to the flames itself as some of it got on to the monsters dragon head no taking any damage making it harder for Bakugou to get near it, with it also meaning his explosions won't do much against it. He would have to find another way to destroy the dragon head.
The monster pounces toward him using its claws as it swipes at his shield over and over again with overwhelming force.
Bakugou was beginning to reach his threshold as the monster continues to attack. Thankfully though the monster was getting tired as well and slowed down as it continued its swiping attacks.
This gave Bakugou the opportunity to make his move. After one missed swipe, Bakugou rolls on the right of it and then jumps up with his quirk to grab on to the horns of the goat head from below to protect himself from the viper that still tried to strike him but Bakugou was far enough away from it to not reach him.
The goat head tried to shake him off but Bakugou maintained a tight grip on the horns. The whole Chimera attempts to reach Bakugou with its claws, but the hero was just barely out of its reach.
Bakugou then removes one hand off a horn and starts blasting at the goat heads face over and over. It was painful to the Chimera as it shakes around and attempts to reach for Bakugou again with its claws. This time though it did manage to scrape Bakugou in the leg a bit and scratch his lower pants legs along with a small cut dripping some blood
"Ah! DAMN YOU TO HELL!" Bakugou yells as he finally had it and with his rage, he puts his hand inside the goat heads mouth and blows it completely up.
Bakugou blasts himself off the Chimera as it screams and runs around in agony from the loss of one of its heads.
Bakugou quickly uses his healing medical shield and some of the healing potions he created to quickly patch up his wound and stopped the bleeding.
But the monster was more enrage as it recovers from the head explosion. It pounces and swipes at Bakugou over and over as he continues to block it off with his shield. The dragon head begins to breathe fire around again forcing Bakugou to blast himself away. The first head was the easiest to kill off, but it was going to be harder to kill off the dragon head if it can breathe fire at him and the lion head had razor-sharp teeth so putting his hand into either of their mouths was suicide.
He wasn't sure what to do as he prepares himself for the boss to charge again, but then a small rock hits his shield, it caught his attention as he looks up to where it came from. Upon the roof of a building, it was Neia back again as she remains quiet with her blade ready on the roof of a house with the Chimera unaware of her existence. Bakugou just smiles back at her as he turns back at the monster.
It finally charges at Bakugou with full rage, but before it got right up to Bakugou again he shouts, "Airstrike shield!" with that a energy shield appears right in front of him as the Chimera bashes itself into the shield and shattering the magic object but also temporary stunning the monster.
"NOW BLUE!" he shouts with Neia jumping off the roof above the boss monster.
The viper tail attempts to strike and bite her in the air until, "Airstrike shield". Bakugou shouts again right before it could reach Neia. As the snake tail bashes itself into the energy shield, Neia grabs the neck of the stunned viper tail right below the snake head as the shield disappeared and with one stroke of her blade, Neia quickly sliced the viper head tail clean off.
Neia falls back down and lands at the ground dropping the severed head, the Chimera quickly got back up and screams in pain once more as blood sprays around whats left of its bleeding tail.
It quickly turns toward Neia and went off to attack her until Bakugou shouts, "Shield prison!" and a magic chain ball envelopes Neia.
The mad Chimera attempts to break it open, but despite its power its slashing and bitting attacks it couldn't destroy the ball.
Bakugou run up at its back and started to blast it like crazy lowering its health quickly with no tail to attack him back with. Neia then made her move as well inside the ball as she places her hands on the ball's wall and shouts, "Electric shock!"
A surge of electricity enveloped the ball as the monster suffers from the intense shock.
The painful attacks allowed Neia to escape once the ball disappeared as the Chimera was now stunned until it quickly started to breathe its fire again forcing Bakugou to jump away.
Bakugou and Neia quickly regrouped together, "Are the civilians safe blue?" he asked her.
"Yes, they blocked off the cave entrance once they were all inside. They should be safe until the wave ends," she answers him.
"Hopely this wave will end once we finally kill off this ugly bastard. It only has two heads left and about 25% of its health. When you kill its other head, I'll toast its last head off!" he informs Neia as they both ready themselves for another attack.
The Chimera had finally lost it though as its dragon head continually breathes fire. Unlike the other times, the dragon head would not stop as it was continually burning the area around it.
But Bakugou finally had a plan now to kill this thing for good, "Blue! Me and you will run-up to it until I give you the right opportunity to jump over the bastard. I'll keep the two heads on me while you get behind it and quickly kill the dragon head," Bakugou ordered.
After nodding in agreement Neia ran right up to the monster as it goes mad with its fire with Bakugou right behind her.
The dragon head aims directly at Neia then Bakugou shouted, "Airstrike shield!", allowing Neia to jump over the fire and the monster while Bakugou holds back the intense fire with his shield as the boss focuses on him.
Once behind it, Neia ran back up toward the distracted dragon head and with her sword powered by her magic she quickly sliced the dragon head off stoping the fires for good.
The Chimera only had its main lion head left. The desperate boss attempts to attack Bakugou one last time with all of its strength and with only 5% of its HP left.
Bakugou blast jumped away and once far enough continued to stand there with him actually removing his shield from his arm as he places it in front of his body, "Come at me you rug!"
The mad monster finally ran and pounced on Bakugou as he purposely fell to the ground on his back just missing the Chimera's power clawed swipe, as he lays on the ground above it the Chimera goes for the kill with its massive jaws to bite Bakugou's head off.
But Bakugou quickly aims his shield vertically and shoves it right in the monster's mouth preventing it from closing.
With its mouth now open and exposed Bakugou smirks and goes for the kill, "Eat this!" he quickly places his hands inside the wide-open mouth and quickly activates his quirk.
BOOM!
And with that massive explosion, it completely blows the monsters last head into pieces finally killing it for good as its headless body falls dead.
And almost instantly the wave itself had ended. The portals disappear, the sky's turned blue again, and all of the wave monsters had died off including all the ones the knights were fighting off.
The knights themselves were relieved that the wave had finally stopped, but they were even more surprised when they look toward the shield hero as he stands victorious in front of the dead boss with his shield reforming back on him. Despite being just the defense hero, he managed to defeat the boss of the wave, something that the three other heroes together were unable to do. It even surprised the knight commander, "I can't believe this, but the shield devil actually did it."
Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki continued to slaughter legions of Zombies as they fall from the sky.
"We can't keep this up forever! We need to find that boss again to end this wave!", Itsuki shouts as he shoots down more swarms of the zombie bees.
Ren shouts out after he decapitated a bunch of zombies at once, "Let's push forward, force our way into the woods and then we can..."
But all of a sudden, the wave monsters stopped and all immediately died off with the sky just as quickly turning back to normal.
The 3 groups were completely confused by all of this.
"Wha... what the hell just happened; the wave is over?" Motoyasu says in confusion
"But we haven't even killed off the boss yet, why would it just stop now all the sudden?" Itsuki says as well.
Ren was just as clueless as the other 2 and their groups until he looks back to where the Chimera went and the only thing in its direction was a small town of Lute. He knew the only way to find answers was to find what happened to it, "Come on all of you, lets head to where it ran off!" he shouts to everyone as he runs to the town with the others without question following his led.
After some running, the groups finally made it to outside of the town of Lute. When they were all there, they couldn't believe their eyes. The wave's boss was not only dead, but it was Bakugou who was standing in victory in front of its corpse.
None of them could believe what they were seeing, "Is... Is that Bakugou? And is... was that the Chimera?", Itsuki asked in confusion with Motoyasu just as flummoxed.
"Looks like the crazy bastard actually did it, that would explain why the wave suddenly stopped," Ren says quickly putting things together.
Myne however wouldn't accept it, "That's impossible, there is no way the shield devil could've killed that thing or even anything else above a balloon."
Motoyasu who is unwilling to question Myne and feeling a bit jealous agrees with her, "Yeah no way that loud-mouthed bastard had the power to do anything in the wave, let alone the boss."
"Then who killed the boss?" Itsuki questioned seeing none of this making any sense.
"How about we stop discussing it and get him to talk ourselves," Motoyasu says as he and the other two follow him as they run to Bakugou.
Back with Bakugou he goes around to gather the pieces of enemies he's killed including the Chimera.
From the regular fodder, he gained: *Inter-dimensional zombie bee shield +6 agility, Zombie shield inventory rot resistance, giant zombie shield +6 defense*
For the Chimera he gained multiple shields from different parts of it including: *Chimera meat shield improve cooking skills, Chimera bone shield increase shadow resistance, Chimera leather shield +10 defense, goat head shield increase threshold from resisting charging attacks, dragon head shield increase resistance against fire attacks by 10%, Viper tail shield increase poison resistance by 10% and gain chain shield ability.*
Bakugou was surprised at how much he got from the one boss, but what was most interesting to him was the chain shield ability which according to the more in-depth description from the help menu it says that the ability will allow the user to create or use the same ability twice as well as allowing him to change his different shields a lot quicker. But he would have to level himself up further to be able to properly use it.
As he finishes up Neia approaches him while he was drinking some HP potions with a healing shield on him, "Are you okay sir Bakugou?" she asked
"I'm fine blue, I just need some rest after all of that crap," he answers while he sits on the Chimera's corpse as he also throws a HP potion to his sidekick.
After healing up she looks back at her master after drinking a potion herself, "Well I know you don't like asking for it but if you ever need of any sort of help whether it's physical or emotional I'll always be here for you." she gratefully says to him.
But Bakugou wasn't big on the idea, "What are you suddenly my mom now? I don't need any help with my "emotional" self. What I want out of you is progress, which right now I'm mostly satisfied with, but improvements are still needed." Bakugou answers her doing his best to still look strong in front of her.
Neia didn't want to stir up any trouble with Bakugou so she didn't say anymore, but she still wants to mentally help him out in any way she can to at least interact with people like the other heroes.
Bakugou then brought out a bunch of more health potions and gave them to her, "I want you to give these out to any injured soldiers and combatants. After that and when I rest up we will go back to get the villagers out of the cave and provide whatever aid we can to them. You got that?" he orders her.
Neia nods in agreement and she grabs the potions and moves toward the soldiers and the other villager combatants. Bakugou lays back on the dead monster until he heard "Hey Bakugou!"
Bakugou growls in anger knowing who it was, "Damn it! Those idiots again!" he says out loud as he forces himself back up as the three heroes finally made it up to Bakugou, "About time you nerds made it here, I had figured you were all eaten alive." he insults the three.
"Bakugou what happened to the wave boss?" Itsuki asked getting straight to the point hoping for a logical answer about this.
"That's easy, I killed the ugly bastard with some help from my sidekick obviously." he quickly answers and brags to him but many of them were in denial of the truth. With Motoyasu being the most vocal.
"What a load of bullcrap, there is no way you could've killed it with that stupid shield you have there." Motoyasu insults back at Bakugou who then puts his foot on the monster corpse.
"Then explain this idiot if you're that dense?!" Bakugou shouts at Motoyasu who couldn't think of anything to explain why the boss was dead.
Myne decided to talk to the knight commander, "Commander, I'm sure it was really one of your knights that killed the monster, am I right?" she demanded from the commander.
"Uh, no I hate to admit it myself, but it was indeed the shield hero who killed the monster, we were merely here for support," he answers her which only made Myne mad.
"Absolutely no way in hell is that even possible!? A shielder class should have next to no attack power. Stop these tasteless jokes and tell me what actually killed the Monster, that's an order!?" Myne demanded again more aggressive to the commander who was getting nervous around the princess.
"But... but it is true, the shield hero had used some sort of fire magic and had his demi-human partner help out like he said, just ask my other men they all saw it themselves as well." the commander answers her with the other knights nodding yes which only made Myne more furious as she grits her teeth and growls to this truth.
The other heroes were still unsure of how he killed it, but they can't deny it anymore. But even then Itsuki and Motoyasu were still upset by this, "Regardless how he killed it, that was supposed to be our kill Bakugou you can't just steal another player's kill like that especially since we knocked down most of its health first, it's not proper gamer etiquette." Itsuki says feeling jealous and thinking the world was still a game with its players following self-imposed rules.
But Bakugou just laughs his ass off from that statement, "HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA, are you serious?! You're still treating this like a video game bow bitch! I don't give two shits if you wanted to kill that thing first and there aren't no damn moderators to complain to, so grow up!" he insults to Itsuki
"Bow bitc...? You do remember we are all older than you right, so don't be telling us to grow up while you have to yell at everything." Itsuki talks back starting to lose his temper to Bakugou.
But all Bakugou did to answer back at Itsuki was giving him the middle finger right at him.
Itsuki was mad but he pulled back, "Ugh, why do I even bother with you?"
Motoyasu then decided to butt in again, "Oh don't be afraid to talk back to the toddler, he's all bark but no bite anyway."
"WHAT THE HELL DID YOU JUST CALL ME PONYTAIL SLUT!?" Bakugou explodes at Motoyasu
Motoyasu smiles as he continued to insult Bakugou, "You heard me, if you insist on calling me a slut, I have the right to call you a toddler."
"You think I'm the damn toddler here!? You probably wouldn't survive one day out there without your bitch whore to wipe your ass everywhere you shit at." Bakugou insults him
Motoyasu got more defensive, "Hey you leave Myne out of this, she already has a lot to deal with after what you try to do to her."
"I'll god damn bring up that bitch up whenever I feel like it! Especially when you're around, your nothing more than a bitch to the bitch."
"How about I kick your ass and see if your big mouth will still talk afterward."
"Go ahead and try and I'll burn your slut ass ponytail!"
"Stop calling me ponytail, spike hair!"
Motoyasu and Bakugou continue on arguing and insulting each other back and forth with Itsuki and Ren forced to watch the event.
Myne was also watching but she turned away to see Bakugou's partner Neia helping out the soldiers by giving them healing potions as well as using some minor healing magic for other injuries.
This made Myne start thinking, 'There is no way the shield hero could've killed the boss on its own even with half health. The only way this makes any sense is that she actually killed it for him. This strange looking demi-human must be a lot stronger than she looks. But I'm not going to let that shielder continue to take fame and fortune away from me and that idiot Motoyasu.' Myne says to herself as she observes Neia who was taking care of the injured soldiers with a kind heart.
Myne then evilly smirks as she developed an idea, an idea to not only stop the demi-human from stealing her team's thunder ever again but to also screw over Bakugou some more.
She turns to see Bakugou still arguing with Motoyasu not paying attention to anything else, she then makes her move and walks up to Neia to talk to her, "Excuse me, are you the shield heroes partner?" she asks using her nice girl act again.
Neia turns toward Myne and gave her a genuine smile remembering the Spear hero's partner, "Yes, well sort of, I'm his sidekick training to be a proper hero. But I don't think we were able to properly introduce each other back at the church. My name is Neia it's nice to meet you." Neia says as she raises her hand up to Myne.
Despite being just as disgusted as before Myne continues her fake smile and acts to shake hands with Bakugou's partner for her scheme to work, "Thank you it's nice to meet you too, my name is Myne."
They eventually stop shaking and Neia continues to be friendly with Myne, "It's very nice to talk to another sidekick to a hero. I admit it's always nice to know more about other people in general and it's great we can have a conversation with each other." she says as the two look back at Bakugou and Motoyasu continuing there shouting contest, "I only wish Sir Bakugou could do the same thing." she continues
"Yeah it does seem our heroes don't get along; it breaks my heart." Myne continues to lie.
"I know Sir Bakugou isn't a "peoples" person, but whatever happened between him and the other heroes it seemed to have hurt Bakugou badly all the way to his soul. From what he said it was from a supposed rape crime he never committed, but that was all he would ever say about it. I hope one day I can somehow fix this and at least have him be friends with other heroes." Neia says concerned about Bakugou.
Myne then made her move, "I understand how your feeling, Motoyasu has always been conflicted with Bakugou over that horrible event. I wish to help make amends with the two as well. Hey, why don't I give you this as a gift from me." Myne then takes a small gold ring off of her finger and hand it over to Neia
Neia was somewhat hesitant, she was warned by Bakugou about trusting people she hardly knew about and told her of how horrible the other heroes are. She thinks about it, but Myne seemed nice enough to her and was a partner to a hero so she couldn't be evil. And while she respected her Master, she knew that he would overreact to a lot of things before so maybe the crime accusation thing was just some weird misunderstanding. She also figured that this was the only way to rebuild relationships with the hero's so after enough thinking she eventually accepted it.
She then quickly put it on her finger, it wasn't anything special it was a normal gold jewelry ring with a red gem on it but it was the thought that counted to her, "Thank you very much Myne, I just wish I had something just as valuable to give you in exchange." Neia thanks to her but Myne continues to evilly smirk.
"Oh don't worry about that, think of it as an olive branch of kindness to help fix our heroes heated relations." Myne lies again as Neia accepted her fake kind words.
"Thank you very much, I'll do my part to end this feud for good and maybe we can fight together again soon." Neia finally says to Myne as she shakes her hand again and goes back to help the soldiers.
Myne just evilly smirks away, "Ha, what a wide-eyed naive Idiot."
Had Bakugou seen any of this he would've stop Myne and Neia, but he was so focused on Motoyasu he didn't see any of it as the two were near the point of killing each other.
Motoyasu almost had enough of it though, "This is getting stupid, why am I even bothering with a tank like you. You might as well be just a brick wall with a loud siren attached to it."
"Because unlike you I'm actually right about everything including me being the best damn hero. Unlike you and the two other idiots, I actually gave a damn about protecting this town and the people while you were screwing off with the zombies. Where the hell were all of you at when this place was calling for help with the flare?" he calls them out on.
Both Ren and Itsuki weren't sure what to say considering he did have a point but Motoyasu tried to justify himself, "Well obviously we were trying to defeat the boss first, kill the boss and the wave ends that was all that needs to be done."
"Well let me ask you this idiots, how many partners do you all have?" Bakugou asked them
Motoyasu was confused by the question, "What the hell does that have to..."
Ren interrupts to answer, "I have 5, Itsuki has 3, and Motoyasu has 4."
Bakugou then continues, "And how many actually helped you fight against the boss itself when you were originally fighting it?"
Ren and Itsuki were both silent as the two looked unsure on what to say as they scratch their heads thinking if they even used their partners in any way other then fighting zombies. Motoyasu was just as unsure but actually gave an answer, "Well, uh... Myne yeah Myne helped us a little during the boss fight."
"And anyone else?" Bakugou quickly asked.
The three were unable to answer him only proving his point, Itsuki though tried to justify it, "Well they were handling the fodder while we were dealing with the boss so they weren't needed to fight the boss itself and kept us focused on it." Itsuki answers.
"Then why the hell didn't you at least send one of them to the town to help, just one of each teams weakest would've been enough to defend this town. Instead you only kept them around as your glorified cheerleaders while innocent people here are being slaughtered by monsters."
Itsuki and Motoyasu were just getting angry at Bakugou for all the insults, but what he said did hit Ren. He knew Bakugou was right, He could've had his team defend this town while he fought the boss but that went completely over his head, and Bakugou had to defend this town himself with only one other partner. It felt embarrassing to him
Motoyasu just had it with Bakugou though, "If you think that any of this somehow makes you better then me then how about we finally test it right now as I kick your ass."
"Go ahead and try and see what will happen ponytail slut!", Bakugou intimidates.
Motoyasu was ready to just attack Bakugou for his insults, but Myne decided to step in, "Now now Motoyasu, we shouldn't be wasting our time with this, we should just head out to celebrate our first victory." Myne of course is waiting for them to be more "public" first before anything happens between the two.
Motoyasu unable to say no to his female partner went along with her, "Your right this is just a waste of time, whether he actually kill the boss or not, he's not going to be as lucky by the next wave. So let's just get out of here already."
"Oh wait a second heroes." the knight commander quickly says before Motoyasu's group left, "We also came to inform you that the king has actually invited all of you to the castle for a celebration for your victory and will offer you rewards there."
The three heroes were happy to hear this, "Sounds nice, I think we all deserve to celebrate our victory." says Itsuki and him, Motoyasu, Ren, and their groups walked with the knights to the castle.
Bakugou just looks away disgusted and walked off back toward the mines to help out the civilians with Neia following him, but one of the knights stop him first, "Uh wait, shield hero, you were invited as well."
Hearing that actually made Bakugou stop and turn towards the knight, "What the hell do you mean by that, I thought the consort hated me?" Bakugou asked him.
"Well he was a bit reluctant, but you are still a cardinal hero so he still has an award to offer you and this is practically your victory so you should be invited to the victory party." the knight answers.
Bakugou still wasn't completely on board with the idea considering how much the king and his bitch daughter had screwed him over which only made him angrier just thinking about it.
But Neia on the other hand was full on the idea, "I see nothing wrong with at least having dinner Bakugou, we might even meet some new friends while we are there and you can't say no to an award by a King." Neia encourages him, she's still hoping that being with the other heroes more would at least help out to end their hatred of each other.
Bakugou still held a lot of anger inside of him, but the food did sound appetizing. After the Hydra battle almost all he and Neia ate was just Hydra meat so it wouldn't go to waste, but he was about sick of it at this point. Even if the reward turns out to be garbage having something else to eat would be worth it.
Bakugou didn't like this but he finally answers, "Fine as long as the food is free we can go, but I better not be anywhere near that princess bitch or those damn nerds!" Bakugou shouts to the soldier who nods his head and heads off with the rest of his unit.
Neia was happy that Bakugou was at least trying, they then went off to help the people back at the mines.
Once at the mines, he and Neia helped the villagers out of the cramped area. Most of them were uninjured, but the ones that were Bakugou handed Neia health potions to help them out as well as both using their healing magic.
The townsfolk all finally made it back to their town. There was a lot of damage to it with undead corpses all over, but they knew it can all be rebuilt again, all that matter to them was that all of their friends and families were saved all thanks to the loud obnoxious shield hero.
They piled up the undead corpses with Bakugou burning them up with his quirk. He also helped serve meals to some of the hungry as another excuse to get rid of some of the Hydra meat as well as testing out his improved cooking ability from the Chimera meat.
After that a few hours later the two heroes finished helping the residents recover as the sun was setting, Bakugou knew it was time to leave, "I think we've done enough here blue, these people can take care of themselves now. I still need to see blacksmith baldy again to have him fix my damn pants before he closes." he says pointing to the ripped tears from the Chimera attacks.
"I understand Sir Bakugou," Neia responds.
Bakugou turns on his map shield ready to fast travel out, but several of the villagers came up to him including the towns elder, "Hold on a second shield hero, we all wanted to thank you for all that you have done for us. We don't know what would've happened had you and your partner had not come to save us." the elder then started to bow his head to respect Bakugou and Neia along with many of the other villagers, "We are enternally grateful for what you have done for us, and if you are need of any aid, we will do our best to help you out in any way you want." the elder continued.
It admittedly made Bakugou a bit prideful of himself as he smiles, "Sure fine whatever, just get yourselves back together first before worrying about me. You can't expect me to solve every problem you have so don't go complaining to me about everything." It may have not been the kindest response, but Bakugou had come a long way since the provisional license exam, where he would threaten to kill the people he was supposed to be saving in the first place.
"Of course hero, we will continue on with our reconstruction. May you and your partner travel well." the elder finally says as he and the other villagers thanked him one last time as Neia and Bakugou teleport back to the capital.