The wave was in full swing. Monsters ran amok, while knights and adventurers fought back in defiance alongside the heroes.
"Hah, and here I thought the waves were supposed to be dangerous," Motoyasu yelled out, confidence dripping from every part of his body.
"Indeed, although we should be wary the boss has yet to show itself," Itsuki remarked as he approached Motoyasu from the left.
Although he tried to sound more humble than the blonde, it was clear that their effortless success so far had already gone to his head.
Ren, who had just struck down another monster, heard their rambling in the distance but chose to ignore them and instead focus on the fight.
Although he wouldn't lie about the fact that he was feeling real good about himself right now.
Meanwhile, Naofumi was busy defending the village, and the villagers the wave had sparked up next to.
[AIR STRIKE SHIELD!]
A large green shield then materialized knocking back one of the zombies who was about to kill a villager.
"Raphtalia!" As Naofumi screams this a brown blur speeds past him and cuts down the undead.
Naofumi nods at her before turning back toward the large tears in the sky, the monsters were emerging from.
Never in his life had he imagined witnessing something like this, let alone fight in.
He turns to Raphtalia to give her another order when…
His breath hitched, his chest tightening as if the air had been stolen from his lungs. The world around him felt suffocatingly cold, his skin prickling with an unnatural chill.
Naofumi stood frozen, every fiber of his being screaming at him to run, to escape, to do anything but stand there. His vision blurred at the edges, his heartbeat hammering so violently it drowned out all other sounds.
He gasped for air, but it came in short, desperate bursts—his lungs refusing to work properly. His body trembled uncontrollably, his legs weak beneath him. His arms wrapped around himself as if trying to hold himself together, but it was no use. He was unraveling, collapsing into himself under the sheer weight of terror.
"Mr. Naofumi?"
The voice was gentle, and grounding. A hand landed on his shoulder, and just like that, the crushing dread began to fade. His breath, still shaky, started to even out as the world around him slowly came back into focus.
He turned to Raphtalia, her worried eyes searching his face. The warmth of her touch grounded him, pulling him back from the edge of panic.
He shook his head, trying to push the moment from his mind, but the lingering chill wouldn't leave him. Still, he couldn't help but ask.
"Did you feel that?"
Raphtalia blinked, confusion flickering across her face. "Feel what?"
"Nothing… nothing." Naofumi forced a small breath, waving off the question before straightening himself.
He scours the battlefield, not for monsters but for his fellow heroes. He wanted to see if they went through the same thing.
And sure enough, as his gaze shifted to the others, he saw them surrounded by their worried parties. They were trying to appear fine, but the cracks were obvious—they were shaken, just like he was.
'So they felt it too… but for some reason, no one else noticed.'
He didn't like this—not one bit. Whatever that presence was, it had been focused entirely on the Four Heroes.
His fingers curled into fists as unease settled deep in his gut. Why them? Why now? This damn wave was already enough of a problem.
Naofumi stole another glance at the others. Ren, Itsuki, and Motoyasu were visibly shaken, their usual bravado dimmed, but like him, they were trying to brush it off. Trying to pretend nothing had happened
A sudden scream snapped him out of it. Both he and Raphtalia swerve around to see an injured villager clearly having been cut by one of the many zombies surrounding him.
Naofumi and Raphtalia exchanged a quick nod before charging forward.
Naofumi raised his shield just in time, bracing against an incoming strike as the impact rattled through his arm. Beside him, Raphtalia weaved through the horde, cutting down zombies with swift, precise strikes.
"Go! Get out of here!" Naofumi shouted at the villager.
Without hesitation, the man turned and ran, disappearing into the chaos as Naofumi and Raphtalia held the line.
Naofumi, struggling against the undead, turns to see Raphtalia getting surrounded by a sudden swarm of undead and locusts.
Naofumi pushes the undead off of him, quickly turning around and sticking out his arm.
[AIR STRIKE SHIELD!]
Nothing, instead of the expected green shield nothing happened.
"Huh?" Naofumi exclaimed in confusion, looking down and grabbing the shield on his arm.
"The hell, why are you failing me now!" He then stops, noticing something. The shield was shaking.
Was it scared? But that doesn't make any sense, it's an inanimate object it can't feel. But he couldn't dwell on those thoughts for long, Raphtalia was in danger.
"Raphta—Ahh!" His words were cut off as something suddenly landed on his head.
He instinctively reached up and pulled it off, staring in surprise at the object in his hand. It was a severed abdomen… from one of the locusts.
But what caught his attention was the unnaturally clean cut where the body should've been attached. A strange chill ran down his spine as more dismembered limbs and body parts began to rain down around him.
He glanced up at the portal overhead, a growing sense of unease settling in.
'Is this some sick joke? Are they just tossing bodies at me now?'
Before he could dwell on it further, he snapped himself out of his thoughts, focusing on what mattered—Raphtalia. He had to help her
Steeling himself he charges forward into the fray.
"God dammit!" Motoyasu screamed in outrage as he attempted to use [Lightning Spear] only for nothing to come out of it.
He began shaking the legendary artifact in rage.
"What's wrong? Got a bad case of spearectile dysfunction? Work damn you!"
He quickly blocks an incoming attack, struggling against the strength of the large undead he redirects its swing to the ground. Before quickly stabbing the undead through the head and kicking it away.
"Sir Motoyasu!"
He turned to see Myne and the rest of his party quickly approaching.
"Are you okay Sir Motoyasu?" Myne asked in worry
"Yeah, but this asshole clearly isn't," Motoyasu replies while pointing at his spear.
"I'm…not sure I follow," Myne asked in genuine confusion. The heck is this guy babbling on about?
"It ain't workin' for some reason."
Mine clinches back in shock but in confusion, she blinks and shakes her head.
"That shouldn't be possible."
"Well, it is now!"
The sound of approaching footsteps catches their attention, they turn ready for a battle. However, when they turn, they see Ren and Itsuki running toward them.
As they come to a stop, Itsuki speaks up first.
"You guys alright?"
Motoyasu nods.
"Good, for some reason my bow stopped working, it even reverted back to its original form."
Ren then steps up.
"The same goes for my sword, and judging by your screaming earlier the same goes for you, and probably Naofumi as well."
"Motoyasu's anger flared. "How the hell are we supposed to fight if we can't even use our weapons properly?!" He shouted, the frustration boiling over as he clenched his fists.
"This situation is bad," Itsuki said, his brow furrowed in thought. "Maybe this is a consequence of the wave, or maybe whatever we felt earlier disabled them temporarily."
Motoyasu clenched his jaw, frustration boiling over. "Disabled them? You mean we're sitting ducks until whatever this is wears off?" His grip on his now powerless spear tightened, the weight of the situation hitting him all at once.
As the group fell into an uneasy silence, the sound of approaching footsteps made their breath hitch. Their grips tightened on their now-weakened weapons, a sinking fear settling in—if it was another horde of enemies, how were they supposed to fight like this?
But as they turned toward the source, tension gave way to relief. It was just Naofumi and Raphtalia, both looking tense but unharmed. For a brief moment, the weight on their chests lessened—but the reality of their situation still loomed over them.
Ren, the only one there aside from Raphtalia whom Naofumi could tolerate, stepped forward.
"Glad to see you're alright," he said, his usual stoic tone carrying a hint of relief.
Naofumi smirked. "You too."
Ren gave a small nod, a smirk of his own briefly appearing before he returned to his neutral expression. "How's the shield?"
Naofumi hesitated for a moment, thrown off by the sudden question. What brought this on?
"Fine, I guess… but the damn thing stopped working for some reason. No matter how hard I try, it won't change forms."
Ren nodded as if expecting that answer. "Looks like it's true then. All of our weapons have been disabled somehow."
As they all stood there, lost in their spiraling thoughts, a voice finally broke the silence.
"Uh… the wave is still happening, guys," Naofumi says to them.
The reminder snapped them back to reality. Their heads shot up, eyes locking onto the sky, still twisted in a chaotic swirl of colors. The battle wasn't over. Their weapons were failing them. And yet, the threat remained. But at the same time though…
"Where are all the monsters? It was so quiet I completely forgot about it," Motoyasu muttered, scanning the eerily still landscape
"Is the wave over?" Itsuki asked Myne, who too was looking around clearly uneasy due to the silence.
"No, the wave ends once the wave boss has been dealt with, but the boss has yet to show itself."
"Then I guess we just have to wait." Motoyasu glances at them from over his shoulder. "Besides, it'll give us some time, hopefully enough for our weapons to snap out of their funk."
XXX A few minutes later XXX
They have been sitting out here for who knows how long. The many knights and adventurers were all conversing as they waited.
Meanwhile, our heroes were all bored out of their minds.
Motoyasu who lay strewn across the floor lets out a deep breath.
"How long have we been here?"
"I don't even know, but we can't just leave not until we slay the boss," Itsuki replied, sitting a few feet away from Motoyasu.
"Hmm, is your bow working?" Motoyasu asked, glancing at Itsuki.
"Nope," Itsuki replied almost instantly, not even bothering to test it again. His grip tightened around the useless weapon, frustration clear on his face.
Naofumi and Ren, seated nearby, quietly attempted to activate their weapons again, only to be met with the same frustrating failure. Both grumbled under their breath, irritation growing with each failed attempt.
"Ow! Who the hell threw that!"
The heroes turn around to see one of the adventurers holding the head of one of the zombies in his hand yelling at the people around him.
"Don't any of you say none of you did it! Heads don't just fall from the sky!"
The heroes turn away choosing to ignore the ridiculousness of the situation going on in the background.
Their silence stretched on, thick with unease—until a loud, piercing shatter ripped through the battlefield like glass breaking on an impossibly large scale.
In an instant, everyone was on their feet, weapons raised in complete contrast to what they were a few seconds ago. All eyes were scanning the area for the source of the sound. The air itself felt heavier, thicker, and filled with an impending sense of dread.
All eyes locked onto a massive crack forming in the air, jagged and unnatural as if reality itself was fracturing. The fissure spread rapidly, splitting apart like shattered glass, the broken pieces dissolving into nothing as they fell away.
But unlike the usual portals that appeared during the wave, spitting out monsters without warning, this one felt different. There was something unnatural about the way it formed—something deliberate.
A heavy tension settled over them as they braced themselves, waiting to see what would emerge.
And soon they got their answer as a large Chimera charged out of the portal. Motoyasu smiled seeing it.
"That must be the boss, come on let's take it down." He yelled charging forward.
But was quickly stopped by Itsuki jumping in front of him.
"Stop." Motoyasu blinks in confusion.
"What? Why? This bastard made us wait long enough. Do you not want to kill it and get out of here?"
Itsuki furrowed his brow clearly uneasy about something, "Of course, I want to get out of here, but just look at it."
Motoyasu, who was even more confused now, eventually did look, analyzing the beast for a few seconds. Motoyasu's grip on his weapon tightened as he took a step back, his earlier excitement draining in an instant.
The Chimera—the supposed boss of this wave—was already on the brink of death. Its massive body was riddled with deep, gaping wounds, fresh blood pooling beneath it. One of its eyes was gone, a hollow, bleeding socket left in its place. Its snake-headed tail wasn't just severed—it had been ripped clean off, flesh and bone torn apart in a brutal display of force.
And then there was its expression.
It wasn't snarling, it wasn't roaring in defiance. It was breathing heavily, trembling, its remaining eye darting frantically around as if searching for something—or someone.
For heaven's sake… the damn thing looked scared.
Raphtalia, just as stunned as the rest, couldn't stop the question from slipping past her lips.
"What… happened to it?"
No one had an answer. The air was thick with unease, the silence stretching too long. But before anyone could even attempt to respond, the Chimera's tattered ears perked up.
Its entire body tensed. Then, with a sharp, panicked movement, it turned its head back toward the massive portal.
Just as the Chimera turned, a massive pressure crashed down upon them.
Everyone froze.
Nobody dared to breathe—not that they could. Their bodies refused to move, muscles locked in place as if the very air around them had become an unbreakable cage. It wasn't just fear—it was something deeper, something far more primal.
Even the instinct to flee, the most basic survival urge, lay dead within them. Because some part of them—some ancient, buried instinct—already knew.
Running would be useless.
Whatever was about to emerge from that portal was beyond anything they had ever faced.
But this feeling… the heroes, they knew it.
It was the same suffocating dread that had stolen their breath, the same overwhelming presence that had rendered their weapons useless.
And now, whatever had caused it was here.
The Chimera turned, its instincts screaming at it to run. It didn't hesitate—it bolted, desperate to escape.
It might have succeeded.
If not for one thing.
SHING
The sharp, ringing sound of a blade slicing through flesh echoed across the battlefield.
The Chimera froze mid-stride. For a moment, it remained perfectly still—before, with a sickening schlick, a deep, impossibly clean-cut formed down the middle of its massive body.
Then, in a gruesome instant, it split apart. Blood and viscera spilled as its two halves hit the ground with a heavy thud. The once-mighty beast was dead before it even realized what had happened.
Silence.
And then—the world shifted. The colors of the sky slowly bled back to its normal blue.
But one thing remained unchanged.
The massive portal still loomed before them.
The sound of heavy footsteps echoed throughout the field.
Whatever was inside… was about to step through.