Biggest thanks for Ace-Triad for fixing my SPAG problems, and Angel Wraith for beta-reading the chapter, and providing feed backs.
As always, I will blabber some more in my end note.
Cross posted on AO3, for anyone who prefer that site.
"Hang in there, Fauly! You are going to be okay! We are almost at the hermit's tower!" Connor screams on top of his lung even while he is carrying one of their companions on his back and running like he's being chased by the Spirit Tortoise. Terishia raises her hand as a vein pops on her forehead, looking ready to slap the overeager spear fighter. But she gives a sideway glance at Fauly who remains unconscious on Connor's back, and slowly puts her hand down.
"Be calm, or at least be quiet, Connor." "Sir Bekter looks back at the (once again) displaced villagers from Balafon and forces himself to remain calm. Everyone is already scared out of their minds after witnessing the Spirit Tortoise rise itself up from the ground with a mountain on its back. Even across a province, the full size of the largest Guardian Beast could not be ignored by mere mortals. Everyone's nerves are as tense as a bow string pulled to its absolute limit, ready to snap at a moment's notice. Right now, Connor's overzealous scream is not doing any favor to everyone, least of all himself.
They were the first group of companions of Sword Hero Ren, and they were doing their best to not bring shame to the hero they serve. But Sir Bekter knows that they are the most unremarkable group among the companions of the heroes. They can complete menial tasks Lord Ren delegated to them without issues, and they can work by themselves to either hold down a position, or complete an objective in a quest. But otherwise, their group of a veteran knight, a sorcerer who specializes in offensive spells, a wizard who specializes in boost enchantment, and an (over) eager spear fighter wasn't remarkable even among common adventuring groups. Fauly was probably the most special among them, but that's only because Lord Gaelion decided to donate a small drop of blood on him to give him the Storm Aspect. So he wasn't surprised when Lord Ren left them behind as he rode off to fight the Spirit Tortoise with the strongest fighters remaining in Balafon. Once again, the Shield Hero is doing his duty to defend their world, while they are going to be separated from him doing minor tasks of escorting Balafon villagers safely to somewhere safer. It's not glamorous like a bard's tale, but it's an important task that needs to be done.
What he didn't expect was for Fauly to suddenly faint in the middle of their march, sending the villagers they were escorting into a brief bout of panic. When they flipped Fauly over, his face was pale like a corpse. The lack of pained expression only made the situation look more eerie, not less. Terishia immediately tried all the healing spells she knew, and Connor tried to feed him potions. But nothing brings him back to consciousness. It's like an invisible hand had snatched most of their companion's life away. Hopefully, the two Faubley wizards could tell them what is wrong with their companion.
Chapter 41: False Heroes
Eve first noticed something was wrong when the very ground she stood on began to shake. That might be expected since they are on a turtle's back. And it's walking on land, not to mention tearing down a (insignificant compared to its own size) defensive wall of a city. Not cruising peacefully on water. But the Spirit Tortoise's enormous size should have made whatever vibration it walks negligible. Only noticeable if she concentrates on it. But not right now, when her feet are having trouble staying even. Not enough to trip her over, but the interference is easily felt compared to before. "Someone started an attack on the Spirit Tortoise? Impossible, the Whip Hero and his subordinates are fighting all the heroes and their companions off in the air. The only way someone could have snuck on here is..."
"The little shapeshifter of the Shield Hero. But she is a weak trickster, and has no way to cause this kind of trouble for us." Lord Astaroth finished Eve's sentence for her. He doesn't sound angry, or concerned. More perplexed than anything else. It's been quite a while since someone was able to truly catch Lord Astaroth off guards like he does to all his enemies. "Unless... the bioplant? It produced more seeds?"
As if the world is trying to prove Lord Astaroth's hypothesis, a collection of blood red vines with thorns grown on them. Each the size of a sea serpent burst out from the forested mountain behind them near the center of the turtle's back. Eve could see small dots hanging lifelessly on the wildly threshing plant. There is also a figure running out of the forest, with the brown hair and fluffy raccoon ears on top of her head. The Shield Hero's little pet shapeshifter, and she is also carrying someone on her back with blonde hair. Eve's eyes instantly focus on them both as she realizes what the implication means. They would no longer have a way to control the Whip Hero if he notices them both. Lord Astaroth reacted faster than her, as he quickly raised his arm at both escapees. But he didn't get to do anything when a whip made of scorching dark fire cut through the ground where he was standing a moment ago, forcing him to dodge away to not take an enraged, fully powered hit from the Whip Hero. "Did you think I'm going to be your personal flying monkey forever? Eat this! You piece of shit!"
Eve turns around, and realizes the Whip Hero has already bolted away from the battle against the Gauntlet Hero. He was only forced to fight his tentative ally because Lord Astaroth convinced him by using his sister. And even during the fight, the hero of Faubley was trying to cause more harm to Axel and Lamia even as he threw his hardest hit against the hero of Siltvelt. Even still, he is a much harder hitter than both of Lord Astaroth's subordinates, and Axel is only able to hold back Dio with a golden aura around him. He has taken his strongest Kirin form, something he can't maintain for long. With no time to strategize, Eve dashes towards the Shield Hero's shapeshifter, with the intention of grabbing her before the Whip Hero can do anything. If she can only regain Lord Astaroth's guest, they can still turn this fight around and even get someone who they can force the Shield Hero to sit down and negotiate like they did with...
A dark cloud of shadow covers Eve's body as she looks up, and she sees a white and golden-furred griffin floating above her. Its size isn't as large as the griffin that led its entire kingdom against them at the start, but still many times larger than its kind. And right now, it is glaring down at Eve with what akin to be hatred in its eyes as its wings flips back. Right... because the Whip Hero isn't fighting on his own. He brought his allies with him.
Feathers, each with more force than bombs shot out of the most advanced cannon, rain down on Eve, forcing her to disregard her target and protect herself. With a rise of her hands, a magical barrier comes into existence between her body and the incoming attack. The griffin queen's feather rain hit her protective spell, letting out a flurry of light beat like rain falling onto sand. The sound might come off as underwhelming to someone less sophisticated in the arts of the arcane, yet Eve's face turns grim. If her enemy's plumes have exploded on her magical barrier, it means that their attack is volatile and unstable, and her barrier is doing its job blocking them. And it would only falter if her magical reserve runs out. But this kind of sound can only mean one thing: The griffin queen's magical attack is penetrating her own magical defense.
With another wave of her hand, Eve pushes her own magical reserve, and her understanding of magical principles to the limit and allows her to instantly shift her body away from where she was standing. Or in layman's terms, she teleported a short distance. For a vassal of Demon King Astaroth, whose specialty includes dimensional travel, this simple act would have been as easy as snapping her own fingers if she's still in her native world. But this world (and Malach, as the last world they entered and already a foothold in) works with very different foundational law compared to her own world. The dimension itself feels much more restrained, like something has placed an enormous burden onto the dimension itself which prohibits a lot of dimensional powers. And the act itself brings Eve down on her knees sweating. But the result is worth it as the griffin queen's attack fully pushes through her magical barrier and the attack turns the solid, rocky ground Eve was standing on into a small desert of sands. If she hadn't escaped, she would have been broken into more parts than the Sword Hero and the Dragon Aspect, her master trapped with his attack earlier.
"You don't think this is over, do you?!" The furious screech of a young girl can be heard over her head, and Eve knows the speaker is the griffin queen flying above her. As if trying to prove her points, the air around Eve becomes charged. Gusts of nearly invisible air blades are shooting at her from every direction. Ready to cut her down to tiny little pieces. "Die for your transgressions against Master Tact and his family!"
"[Looking Glass], [Mirror Force]." Two names come out of Lord Astaroth's mouth one after another. The voice is like an unshakable bedrock, strong and steady even among the chaos of the tremor on the Spirit Tortoise' back, and the furious assault of their enemies. And Eve knows that everything will be okay, because her lord has stepped up and intervened. She can feel, more than she can see, that a mirror forms around her body. Shifting her position away once again, letting her dodge away the fatal attacks she would have otherwise suffered. As for the attack the young griffin queen aimed at her, they are also caught in a single piece of glass. It shatters, but at the same time shooting the attack back at its original sender with renewed force. The Whip Hero's pet griffin clearly didn't expect her second attack to get redirected back towards her, as her body seems to freeze in midair, unable to dodge or put up any kind of defense.
"[Forseti]." A single name comes out. It might be the name of an attack, or perhaps a being with power second only to a demi-god. The voice itself also sounds as serene as the stilled air around everyone, yet with an undercurrent of wild storm ready to devour anyone who challenges its master at the same time. As Lord Astaroth's second in hand, advisor, and also the one who controls and organizes all information for him, Eve knew the name well. One of the most often recited names of the Dragon Aspect by the natives. More so than Naga, the Aspect of Light and the leader of the Dragon Aspect. Or Loptus, the only Dragon Aspect to have ascended even above their father and attended full godhood. Forseti, the Dragon Aspect of Air, and the Dragon Aspect who loves mortals the most and often would appear in the time of crisis to help mortals.
A green colored sphere suddenly forms around the young griffin queen, and then quickly enlarges around her. The many blades of air redirected by Lord Astaroth didn't even cause any ripple when it hit the green colored airsphere around the griffin queen. Almost as if the Aspect of Air is making a statement. That before him, no other wind user would matter.
Eve turns her head around to look at the Shield Hero's shapeshifter. The Whip Hero has already grabbed her along with his younger sister, and dragged them both away towards the edge of the Spirit Tortoise. A two clawed wyvern, also much larger than it kind usually are, is flying over their head. The other leviathan class monster the native heroes brought with them, who didn't do anything remarkable the entire battle due to its relatively low rank when it comes to monsters. And right now its rider is using its lower significance to act as a skirmisher to sweep in and act as a rescuer of the heroes who have landed on the Spirit Tortoise to take them away. The Whip Hero's weapon is no longer burning, as he swings it towards the wyvern's clawed foot like a lasso. Lord Astaroth points his hand at them, making a mirror appear right in front of the wyvern's flight path. "[Shattered Glass]."
"[THE WORLD]!" Dio's voice is loud and has a hint of arrogance like someone older who is used to being followed by other people compared to Lord Astaroth's serene calm. A golden globe laps over Lord Astaroth's mirror ability, and for a brief moment Eve sees the sign of struggle over her master's face as the wyvern and Whip Hero flies right over his mirror like it doesn't even exist. Clearly, he's trying to shatter them like he did to the Sword Hero and his Dragon Aspect, but couldn't. She knew the Gauntlet Hero is also a user of dimensional power from the information they gathered, but his ability is much more limited compared to Lord Astaroth. Probably because he is younger, a native in a world where space is fortified by the world's will to make dimensional manipulating much harder, and lack of knowledge a mortal would have compared to a devil. Yet, at this specific area of dimensional power he clearly overpowers her master. Lamia and Axel also no longer fight around him to keep him busy. Eve didn't spare any attention on how their battle progressed, but if the Gauntlet Hero has already bested the two subordinates of Lord Astaroth and forced them to retreat... there's nothing stopping him from coming at Lord Astaroth himself.
And that's exactly what the Gauntlet Hero has done, as he lunges at Eve's master, with signs of bloodlust gleaming in his eyes. There is no doubt, the hero of Siltvelt is coming at them with intention to kill. Lord Astaroth is still remaining calm in the face of danger as he turns around and walks into one of his mirrors while carrying Eve in his arms, leaving the battle behind. Lord Astaroth isn't someone who will keep fighting a disadvantageous battle, and he would always choose to avoid direct confrontation until he can gain a much better position compared to his enemies. But when they arrived in the cave system they reorganized as their base, they found absolute chaos among it. More brown, roots like plants have grown everywhere, covering and blocking the many tunnels of their base. There are still some of Lord Astaroth's men fighting the wildly growing and threshing plants, but it's clear they are fighting a losing battle for once.
Eve's master actually frowns at such a display. He snaps his finger, and all of his dead subordinates twitch, standing back again thanks to the power of the Spirit Tortoise. They begin to fight the bioplant with their weapons, or their spirit magic empowered bodies. The fighting still looks undecided, so Lord Astaroth conjures another dimensional transporting mirror with his [Looking Glass] ability and changes their location from the cave system to a place on the mountain where enough forest and foliage covers their track from any of their would-be enemies.
As the two of them wordlessly sit down. Eve is once again reminded of what a defeat tastes like. It wasn't the overwhelming loss they suffered from The Burning Legion when the world Lord Astaroth built was burnt down to the ground, and so many of their subordinates killed. They managed to kill one major hero and the Dragon Aspect of Storm of this new world, and they took over one major holdout for the heroes. Yet... Lord Astaroth was aiming for much more, and it's no question that they didn't achieve their goal of killing all the major heroes of this world before they could grow powerful enough to challenge them. "We need to reevaluate our enemies, Eve. And we'll have to bring more reinforcement from Malach than I initially expected."
Flare begins to see doubles in her eyes, she's pretty sure some black spots are forming around the corner of her eyes. But she refuses to slow down, unlike some of the other forces that have already been left behind by Duchess Eclair as she marches her troops north towards the Spirit Tortoise in case the heroes still need reinforcement. Everyone knows the journey will be very tough, and those whose body can't keep up will be allowed to rest while those who could still keep going continue. She refuses to be one of those who gets left behind.
Flare's steed is a very mild-mannered unicorn breed from the most prestigious Malfoy ranch from Faubley. More for showing off a highborn lady's prestige than for the act of war. And the saddles she's sitting on are also made of the most expensive material to make them as sturdy as they are comfortable. Both bought with the coins from her family's vault. These should make her ride the most pleasant. But galloping at top speed for a few hours since the morning, her body hurts all over. She tries to ignore it as she follows Duchess Eclair as well as she could due to a single reason. Her teacher Malty didn't take her along to fight the Spirit Tortoise. She took that slave Azula instead.
Flare knows that as the daughter of a high ranking Azure Dragon lord, Azula is born with more power than someone like her. And with how bloodlusting those Siltvelt animals are, she's probably much more used to the art of warfare than someone like herself. Unlike Duchess Eclair, Princess Josephine, Lady Cute and Miss Weiss (because the daughter of the wealthy merchant is NOT a noble lady no matter how much she and her family may think otherwise), she's educated as a traditional noble lady who is meant to rule the court, not the battlefield. Her first ever lesson about any skill related to war is what Princess Malty taught her on their journey to the Cal Mira Archipelago.
It still doesn't change the fact that to her, a demi-human slave is someone who you bring to your bedroom when you are frustrated at whatever happens in your home. Not someone who you take to battle with. Especially not a noble scion who you are close with standing next to you. The only reason to do otherwise is because said noble scion is a complete failure who would hurt, more than help you in battle. And that means that in spite of all the encouraging words her teacher Malty showered her with, she is a complete failure in her teacher's eyes.
"Wow, be careful here! Mademoiselle." Flare heard the alarmed cry of a man, and the distressed neighing of her steed Angelina (who is definitely NOT named after the first queen of Melromarc Dynasty. Nobody can prove otherwise). After blinking her eyes a couple of times, she realizes she's in the embrace of a suit of hardened steel armor in a very old, traditional style. Or rather, the knight captain wearing them. He was one of the knights from Gallia who joined as part of the heroes' retinue back in the capital. What was his name again? Regardless, it's not important as in the distance, the back of Duchess Eclair grows ever distant in her sight till she finally disappears from her view.
"You shouldn't have forced yourself over your limit, Lady Flare. You almost hurt yourself." Yatsuhashi, the bodyguard of the Shield Hero jumps down from the orange feathered queen filorial as he runs over to her side. She knew the dark skinned man didn't mean anything bad. But his words still make her ear bleed as it only further points out her own failure. She doesn't like him, even if he is the protector of Lord Shield Hero and a human descended from a previous Sword Hero. His clan lived as nomads in the desert, which makes him as civilized as those savage animals from Siltvelt. The only feeling of consolation comes from Angelina trotting over to Flare's side, and begin to carefully licking her face.
"Keep pushing one's troop in a forced march, to the point of them falling behind one after another is the worst thing you can do to your own men. Only those who are already in the army and are used to endurance training can keep up. And everyone will be too tired to defend themselves if anyone attacks us now. Mademoiselle Eclair's worry for the heroes is keeping her from thinking straight." The knight captain of House Gallia first shakes his head, and then lets out a sigh.
"I understand why Duchess Eclair is acting this way, Captain Polnareff. I have a bad feeling about this." A young looking blonde knight with brass colored armor speaks up. Flare raises her eyebrows at it. The young man was also one of the Gallia knights, and clearly lost in terms of seniority compared to the Gallia knight captain. Isn't it rather rude of him to speak out of term, especially when he's kind of rebutting his superior? Regardless, Sir Polnareff isn't reprimanding the young knight so he continues. "The appearance of the Guardian Beast is a terrible omen for us all. Especially when we know this current Wave of Catastrophe is different. No matter who broke the seal for the Guardian Beast, they would no doubt also target our Cardinal Heroes, whose lives are tied to our world's ability to keep invaders at bay."
"You believe this to be a trap for the heroes, Sir Oersted? Hmm... I suppose you have a point. All the more reason for us to link up with the heroes as soon as possible." Captain Polnareff nods his head along at the young knight's suggestion. It also makes Flare even more worried for her teacher. She's not one of the Cardinal Heroes, but she is the user of Star Wand. If the young Gallian knight was correct, she would be one of the main targets after the four Cardinal Heroes.
"Sir Polnareff, take your companions and go north if you are worried. Lady Flare is Lady Malty's apprentice, that means it's my duty to take care of her." The Gallian knight captain takes a brief look at the Shield Hero's bodyguard. How to say his name again? It even sounds like the name of a savage animal! They didn't know what was going on in Flare's mind, as the Sword Hero's companions get on their steed and rides away towards the direction of Eclair's forces. She wasn't sure what the dark skinned bodyguard with a barbarian's name wound did to her. Would he try to take advantage of her like the savages? Flare's body tenses up when he wraps his arms around her like Sir Bekter did, and gently puts her back on Angelina.
"I can tell you are worried about Lady Malty. So we'll go after Lady Eclair too. But let's take it slow for now. We won't be a help to anyone if we run ourselves ragged." Once again, the Shield Hero's bodyguard's voice is gentle as he takes Angelina's reign in his hand. He begins to slowly walk north alongside the Shield Hero's birds. The two of them seem to realize that they are no longer trying to march with Lady Eclair's force, so the orange bird changed into the form of a young girl with a pair of pig tails. The red bird on the other hand remains in her beast form as she pulls along the cart with the Shield Hero's slaves still sitting inside.
Flare could feel the piercing gaze of slaves on her. All of them witness her full failure and see her like a joke. This is the worst! Worse than back home when father seems to constantly forget she even existed, and would call upon her sister when he needs a troubled matter taken care of, but would otherwise put all his time and effort into their idiotic brother simply because he was the song. Her own sister who never bothered to put on the well behaving mask of the perfect lady in front of her, because Lacus judges her to not be worth the effort. Or Siegmar (wasn't his name changed to Fuckboy by the Shield Hero? Serves the little hooligan right!) who constantly makes passes at her even if they are related by blood. At least back home, all the slaves knew their places and won't dare to openly look at all her failures. And then she hears the voice of the dark skinned man again. "Are you alright, Lady Flare? Am I still going too fast?"
"Yes... I am alright. I just-" Flare doesn't know why the brute with the name of a barbarian suddenly seems to be extra concerning towards her. And then she realizes her eyes feel weird and she isn't seeing things correctly. Is she... crying? In front of all the slaves? This is going to be the end of her social life, the one thing she was trained for since youth (even if Lacus is so much better at it, she can't see the metaphorical back of her sister). "NO! It's not alright! This is the worst! The Guardian Beast is awful! The slaves are awful! YOU are awful! Everything is awful! I shouldn't have listened to my father and tried to join the Shield Hero's retinue at all!"
The barbarian swordsman stays quiet and unmoving to let Flare vent all her frustration. He finally moves after Flare finishes letting out all of her frustration and begins to catch up on air. He reaches into a little pouch on the side of his armor, pulls out a small piece of cheap-looking fabric and holds it in front of Flare's face. She wants to reject it, to not further dirty her face with such a poor looking thing from a brute like him, but he speaks first. "It's raining."
It's such a dumb, and awkward excuse. Especially in front of the glaring eyes of a few dozen slaves. But he speaks it with such blind sincerity, it's hard to keep blaming the barbarian giant for all her troubles. Flare takes the piece of fabric from the tall brute's hand and uses it to carefully wipe her face. "Yes... it's raining."
"It's easy to feel inadequate when gods and demons begin to invade our world. I am Master Naofumi's Housecarl." Flare fights back a snort that's about to come out from her nose. The term the giant brute uses are from the remnants of those animal loving Midgard people. She really wasn't being overly erroneous about him when he goes from the desert savage to snow barbarians. "I am supposed to be my master's shield, protecting him with my life. But what Shield Hero needs another man to be his shield, when he is already the strongest shield on earth? For now, all I can do is concentrate on doing what my master needs me to do."
Flare turns her face to look at the giant sworn shield of the Shield Hero again. He's not openly screaming out his own grievance like Flare did. But clearly, he also feels the same resentment of inadequacy as Flare. "We- well! I suppose you are right. We'll just have to do our best to help out the heroes."
"Excuse me, sir and young miss. I can't help but see you have fallen off the main troops. And I was wondering if I can lend you some aid with my speciality." Flare spins her head around to look at the direction of a new, completely unfamiliar voice. It's a young man with raccoon ears, maybe around the same age as her (she can't tell since it's a raccoon animal, aren't they usually look younger than they actually are?), wearing the unremarkable robes often favored by traveling monks and healers. He has a smile on his face, but Flare feels there must be something sinister hiding underneath. And no, it's totally not because he has raccoon ears. "I am a healer belonging to the Order called the Sons of Biscas. My body isn't built for sustained, fast, marches because I am not trained as a fighter. So I decided to stay behind and help those who dropped out of the forced march like me. Because I am very good at healing. I suppose you could consider me a... hero of healing."
The river running by Balafon doesn't have a name. It gives water for the irrigation of the farmland surrounding the agrarian village, but isn't nearly wide enough for transportation ships so nobody bothered to give it a proper name. But right at this moment, a purple fissure suddenly opens right beside the nameless river, almost like an invisible force left a scar in the fabric of reality itself. It slowly enlarges, until it becomes a gateway much larger than even the gate of the largest castles. From the portal, a thunder lizard slowly walks out and lies onto the bank of the river. It lets out a few rumbling breaths before closing its eyes and starts snoring. The self-proclaimed Tome Hero of Malach strolls out of the portal right after the thunder lizard. The young man twirls his feet, more than he turns his body as he looks back at everyone who is still on the other side of the portal. He hooks his finger while flashing them with a smirk. "Come out, come out~. Heroes of Medea. Didn't someone want to teach me a lesson to not trash talk your friend? Well. I'm here, and we are no longer in the realm of this world's demi-gods. You have no need to worry about shaking the foundation of this world now, and I'm still waiting~."
"Yeah! I'm about to give you a good spanking like I did to Fuckboy!" Motoyasu jumps out of the portal while clashing his own fists together. The legendary spear shakes on his back. He reaches his arm back, ready to pull out his weapon. But Malty puts a hand on his shoulder before he can do it. The Spear Hero turns his head back, and watches her with puzzled expression. "What's going on, Malty? Didn't you agree to let me fight this annoying fucker?"
"I did. But I think we should put this fight off a little. Right now, you are too angry with what the Mirror Devil did to Ren to think properly, and it'll make you sloppy in your fight. Look, just let me handle this one for now." Malty whispers to Motoyasu and then turns to look at the arrogant False Hero of the Book. "Since you are the only hero from your world we know, I think everyone in a position of power would like to see how you fight to see if magic from Malach is different from our own. It's better we postpone your sparring duel with the Spear Hero when more people are gathered here to witness this battle. Unless you want to have a second fight later?"
"One duel, two duels. It makes no difference. A muscle head will always be a simpleton. And if you want your champion to get his butt whipped in front of a bigger crowd, who am I to stop you?" The attitude of the false hero is as flippant as ever. This almost makes Motoyasu charge at him again if Naofumi didn't join in on holding him back. He lets out another snort, waves his hand and begins to walk towards the river. "You might as well take this time to do some last minute training for this amateur. Not that it'll matter in the end, but at least he might make me a bit more entertained. Now if you excuse me... I'm going to enjoy some alone time and clean myself up. The more time I spend with him, the more I risk getting infected by his stupidity."
"You think Motoyasu would be in trouble if he challenges this guy right now, Malty?" Naofumi is also speaking in a hushed whisper, although his voice sounds much more optimistic than Malty's own. "I know he didn't fare too well when he was dueling me. But that was over a month ago, and he's grown much stronger from back then. You saw how strong he got when we were fighting Pope Balmus, right?"
"Yeah, and I've gotten stronger since then too! I have been training with Katarina's grandpa. Isn't he a big deal general?" The looks Motoyasu is currently giving Malty reminds her of a kicked baby bird.
"I'm sure you got much better at fighting now you are taking hero-ing seriously, Motoyasu. And yes. Katarina's grandfather is Melromarc's top general. But you need to understand that fighting a warrior, especially a general who is trained for war,will be very different from dueling a magic user. The point of your fight with this false hero is to draw it out as much as possible. Let everyone see how different magic from another world might look like. And while I don't know what magic they use in their world, I am a magic user of Medea. I can already tell you fighting a mage will be very different from fighting a warrior." Malty doesn't feel good about putting Motoyasu down, so she gives a few gentle pats on his head and tries to explain her reasoning.
"Look. What's he doing now?" Naofumi's voice draws Malty's attention away from Motoyasu. Before them, the false hero is pointing his finger at the bank of the river. After a few moments, the ground where he is pointing suddenly sunk down, and then a circle of earth on the edge of the pit rises up. At first, Malty wonders if he's trying to make some trap to catch animals for food, but then water from the rival besides him suddenly leaps out and fills the pit he created. A fire lights up right above the pit of water, till steam begins to rise from the inside. But rather than evaporating away as one would expect, the white, mist stays around the newly created hot bath pit till they can barely see the figure of the false hero of the book. They hear the sound of water splashing after a while, and then the sound of some humming an unknown song.
The magic used by the false hero wasn't something remarkable. His terrain manipulation ability was also used by Katarina's brother Keith on a larger scale when they helped rebuild Balafon after the Life Root to create additional waterways for irrigation. But what is remarkable is how easily the false hero used his magic. No chant, no wave of his magical catalyst (which would be his book). He simply pointed his finger, and visualized the effect in his mind to make it happen. And his later act of starting a fight right above the water, and then trapping all the heated air around his personal bath shows the level of control belongs to a master like Uncle Aldrecht. Malty only regains her composure when she hears the voice of Azula walk them by. "Showoff."
"On second thought... I want to have more training before I go fight him. It would look bad on everyone if I ran up to him and got slapped. What do you have in mind, Malty?" This time, it's Motoyasu's turn to put his hand on Malty's shoulder.
Malty nods to the Spear Hero and turns around from the bathing false hero. It's pointless to think over his ability when the fight hasn't even started. If she's going to be shocked by anything, she'll save it during his duel with Motoyasu. Maybe he's nothing more than a scarecrow who is only skilled in parlor tricks. As they get to an empty field away from the portal, she points to Motoyasu and then at a spot far from her to direct him over. "Okay. Let's see what we have to work with first. I'm going to start throwing spells at you, and you dodge and deflect them. I want to see how much you improved after your training with General Anderson. He is a war general, his skills are most fit for battlefields where you need to cause the most damage with the least stamina loss. They probably aren't very good at fighting a mage who'll shoot you with different spells at a distance. Master Naofumi... you stand behind me. And protect me with your barrier miracles and your shield ability in case spells get deflected my way. I want to concentrate on the attack to see how much punishment Motoyasu can take first."
"Right!" Both heroes quickly move to position. Naofumi concentrated his sight on the ground between Malty and Motoyasu. The Spear Hero, on the other hand, begins to do some reflexes to warm his body for the trial ahead. After he finishes his stretching and stands back up into a fighting stance with his spear held in front of him, Malty begins to gather multiple water beads in front of her. This whole exercise is to see how well the Spear Hero fares against a magic user who'll likely try to keep distance and overwhelm him with spell attacks. So there's no need for Malty to use a more powerful spell, at least not from the start. Weak, water attacks should be good enough as it wouldn't cause too much damage compared to fire, and it'll be easy to see when Motoyasu gets hit since it would make his clothes wet. Plus, it also gives Malty more chance to train her own control on the element she has a much weaker affinity in.
Just like the false hero did moments before, Malty also points her finger straight at Motoyasu. She obviously didn't make a pit appear underneath his feet, but the water beads in front of her begin to continuously shoot liquid darts at the Spear Hero. This is a spell she created herself with the water spell [Rain Attack] as the foundation. Normally, the spell would create a cloud over someone's head, and then have magic enhanced water droplets continuously fall on its target's head in an attempt to kill them with a literal 'death from a thousand cuts'. The relative weak force behind each 'droplet' besides, [Rain Attack]'s biggest flaw lies in its lack of mobility. Even after the spell is cast, the rain droplet it uses to overwhelm its target takes a few seconds to fall at the start, and the cloud can not change its location once the spell is fired out. A lightly armored fast enemy (which is unfortunately, the kind of target this kind of spell is most effective against as even a fighter in heavy armor could simply ignore and power through the attacks) who is very aware of their surroundings could easily escape the spell's range.
The spell she's creating on the other hand... it would have even less power behind each water dart. Since instead of falling naturally downwards due to gravity, she needs to use her own magic to shoot them horizontally. But She has the ability to change the direction her spell is fired at. Which means as her power and her control with water magic increases, this spell will be much more versatile compared to [Rain Attack]. But for now, this weak but rapid firing water attack is the perfect tool to test the result of Motoyasu's training with General Anderson.
Beads of water pallets shoot out of the water sphere in front of Malty, and Motoyasu immediately brings the shaft of the spear forward and begins to swing it in a circle. At first, Malty assumes he's using the defensive spear weapon art [Cartwheel] to keep himself safe. But then she narrows her eyes, and realizes it's not the case. Other than Motoyasu didn't shout out the name of his weapon art (which is NOT a requirement to use it, especially if he actually mastered the weapon art and not using with the help of his hero weapon), if he is swinging his spear using an weapon art, he would be making a perfect circle with his motion. In front of her eyes however, the spear Motoyasu is swinging isn't in a perfect motion, she can visibly see it growing in some directions while shrinking in others. Which means he is blocking her magic attacks with his own parrying skill, not with the help of a defensive weapon art. Something much harder to do, but it saves his stamina consumption and makes him more versatile.
Knowing the Spear Hero is effortlessly blocking her current magic attack, Malty decides to increase the difficulty. With her other hand, she begins to gather fire, the element she has much greater affinity with. She's also keeping the power behind the light for the moment, nothing greater than what one produces from a single match. But she still gives the Spear Hero a verbal warning. "Be prepared, Motoyasu. I'm going to add fire spells!"
"Ready when you are!" The Spear Hero's reply was energetic. Malty releases her attack at him. But instead of them firing at him in a straight line like her water attack, she controls them to move with a curve that attacks the Spear Hero from the sides. Making it no longer feasible for him to hide behind his spinning defense and forces him to dodge. Motoyasu didn't do what she expected, instead begins to swing his own spear at an angle left and right. Making it looks like he's spinning two spears from both sides to protect himself from all three directions. Like before, Malty's water attack gets smashed to tiny droplets and falls on the ground, and her fire spells extinguish upon contact with his defense. There's room to increase the power of her attack, of course. But right now she's definitely getting a better read on the result of Motoyasu's training. His parrying skill is at least decent.
"You call this training? A waste of time, that's what this is." Malty stops her current action and looks towards the direction of the annoying-sounding snort. Azula is looking in their direction with her arms crossed in front of her chest, and back leaning against a tree. "Thinking a magic user can only hit you from a distance is the expectation of an unenlightened barbarian. What good is this training going to do for the fool when his opponent puts a fist in his face? Other than making him into a better punching bag?"
Malty can feel a few veins popping up on her head at Azula's comment. It's not like Melromarc has no mage fighters, or sorcerers who are more adapted at using their spells to help their melee skills. But her comment connecting a magic user's civility with how much physical violence they can inflict simply rubs her the wrong way. It's pretty much the opposite ideology of what her teacher taught her. But Azula does have a good point. They don't know much about the false book hero. He could be some kind of wizard, fighter, and rogue hybrid. "In that case, it sounds like you volunteered to be Master Motoyasu's training partner."
"Fine. Step aside." Azula's back leaves the tree trunk as she walks toward their training ground. She intentionally bumps Malty's shoulder, and then closes her distance with Motoyasu until there's only less than five paces between them. The nerve of this slave! She's definitely trying to gauge how much Naofumi is willing to tolerate before activating the slave punishment setting. Azula gives one last look back at them before settling into some kind of fighting stance with her hands extended out looking ready to chop down the Spear Hero. "Watch and learn. [Flame Saber]."
Red fire lights up on Azula's hands, making her hands look like a pair of cleavers as Azula charges at Motoyasu. With every swing of her hand, a blade of fire shoots out from her hands at the defending Spear Hero.
Omake: Retake of the Sword Hero
Ren's eyes split open as he lets out a labored breath. He quickly reaches both of his hands up to rub his own face, and then slowly moves down at his body. Trying to see if he's missing anything. The last moment he remembered, it feels like he's being pulled apart into countless little pieces. But now, it feels like he is fine, even if he's lying face up on the grass of some forest. He can hear the tweeting to birds, and chiming of bugs around him. And there is no sense of sound of the very ground shaking by the steps of a mountain-sized turtle kaiju. Everything feels almost peaceful.
He quickly jumps back up to his own feet. Gaelion... and more importantly, Wyndia was with him when they were hit by that surprise attack. Is he the only one who was somehow saved, or are they somewhere nearby too? He calls out to his companions, both hopeful but fearful at the same time at what happened to them. "Wyndia?! Gaelion?!"
"We are here, Master Ren!" The voice of Wyndia can be heard from the otherside of some thick foliage, but her voice sounds strangely high pitched. Maybe she is also feeling anxious after the same ordeal he went through? Soon he has his answer as Wyndia jumps out of the bush to run at him. But instead of the teen he became used to seeing, her height was less than half of what he's now used to, her shrunken arms and legs are especially clear when she is holding a small dragon in front of her chest.
Gaelion usually uses his 'pygmy dragon' form and stays on Ren's head like it's his personal nest outside of fights he directly participates in. But he looks very different now. In his pygmy dragon form, his body proportion is the same as his fully enlarged form, just small enough to be held in one's hand. But right now, he has taken a form with very stubby limbs, pudgy stomach, and a more pointed looking beak with large eyes that seem to take a quarter of his head. The texture of his body is also different, whereas before he is covered in gleaming dark scales. Now he looks comparatively naked with smooth, deep orange colored skin and no sign of scales. He looks less like a dragon, or even dragon related monster from Monster Hunter, and more like something out of a Pokemon game. "What happened to the two of you?"
"Look at your status screen, sky kid." Baby Gaelion lets out a tired sigh, so Ren does what he's told. And he immediately notices his own status being massively lower than what he expected. The reason is very clear when he notices the display of 'Level 1' near his name and his class. His level got reset? Was this the consequence of getting hit by that surprise attack from whoever was controlling the turtle kaiju? His attention is ripped away from his status screen by further explanation from Gaelion. "My daughter and I also got our level reset to 1... and I can't access the power granted to me by my father Gaia. It's like my connection with Gaia is... not fully severed. But more like it's being stretched out on a string. We need to get out of this forest and find some settlement. We are not safe like this."
As if trying to prove Gaelion's point, another wave of shuffling can be heard from the bush they came from. Ren immediately steps up, getting into a stance between Wyndia, baby Gaelion and whatever is following behind them. Soon, three droplet shaped things leap out of the bush. It reminded Ren of the basic slime monsters from Dragon Quest, but not exactly the same. For both slime, and the monster he is looking at have a water drop shaped body. But unlike a slime which has its pointy 'tail' at the center of their body, their tail is behind them that actually looks like the tail of an animal. They also have small, beady eyes instead of large eyes like a slime, and they lack a smile shaped like a big mouth underneath their eyes. They don't look very threatening, all things considered.
"Pu- PUTITS!" The milky white, droplet monsters let out some scared noise as they quickly run past Ren and hide behind his legs. And then the sound of a roar can be heard behind them. This time, a monster that's at least two heads taller than Ren jumps out. It has a roughly humanoid body structure, slightly hunched over back and its whole body is covered by coarse looking white fur. Ren is immediately reminded of something like a yeti, or a wendigo from pop culture. It roars again, and immediately charges at him, swiping at him with its sharp looking claws. Ren is forced to charge ahead, since Wyndia is standing behind him, and he doubts she can fight this thing off as a level 1 child.
"You can do it, Skyguy! Go get that white furball!" "PUTITS!" Wyndia begins to cheer him behind his back among the screech of the slime like monsters from before. Ren would have screamed at her to run away, if he knew which direction led to safety. After the few initial clashes between his sword and the monster's claw, Ren can already feel his hands and arms growing numb even as he two hands his sword. Clearly, this yeti-like monster is stronger than him at level one. It forces him to dodge away from his swipe attacks, while trying to cut it with his sword to bring it down. This only seems to anger the monster, as its roar becomes louder and swipes become faster and heavy enough to blow gusts of wind around him.
Clearly, he's not doing enough damage by dancing around his opponent, and the more time this fight drags on, the more risk it'll bring other monsters that might kill them. So he'll have to take a risk to try to close the distance and hit the monster where it'll wound it fatally such as its chest or its head. The monster slams its claw at Ren with an overhead swing, and he dashes diagonally in an attempt to both dodge the yeti-monster's attack while hitting it in the head. He slightly misjudges the distance and his own agility, and feels the sharp claw pierces his shoulder guards and grazes his skin. But it's only a minor flesh wound that could be ignored... till he begins to see double in his eyes and his limbs grow weak. The monster carries poison in its claws? As he drops to the ground on one knee, the monster he's facing... falls head first onto the ground? The shaft of an arrow in the back of its head explains why.
"See! I was right, Glass-nee. There really are people needing help!" A young, spirit voice can be heard from the direction of the forest, giving Ren the mental image of an upbeat girl similar to his friend Mikoto. And sure enough, a girl around her age with a bow in her hand jumps out of the bushes afterwards. She has longer hair, but the way her feet click on the ground is very similar to how Mikoto always walks and runs with a spring. But right now, what catches his attention most is the name. Granted, it's not that strange for people to have same name (Iris' maid and the Shiltfreeden emissary were both named 'Tanya', and of course, one of the bandit Naofumi knows is also named Ren like himself), but Ren still can't help but look at her companion.
"A young man with a fancy looking sword, and a girl with a pet dragon... probably some rich kids from one of the noble families. Wanting some excitement in their lives and thinking their daddy's wallet makes them invincible. Not realizing how dangerous even a lowly kobold is to an amateur adventurer." The speaker who walks out of the bush carries a more haughty demeanor than Bertia's personal maid, and she also looks taller with the elaborate kimono she wears. But there is no mistake, she looks just like the personal maid of Bertia.
End Note:
In this chapter, Raphtalia proves why she is the MVP of the Shield Hero's party even when she's isn't his sword. Yeah, she's the reason why Astaroth suffered arguably his biggest black eye in this encounter.
Eclair making a pretty big commanding oversight isn't something I planned, but I think it works here. She's young and inexperienced, so I find it's pretty ridiculous how in [Reprisal of the Spear Hero] she gets to lead the queen's army without showing any mistakes. You'd think if the queen is (once again) as great as Alenko tried to make her, she would have some senior officers to lead her army instead of relying on someone who is barely 20.
And of course, the meta-narrative reason on why I didn't have God Raphtalia immediately return Ren back to Medea is because I want him to meet Kizuna and Glass in the other world.