by Aneko Yusagi
“A protective beast? You mean the ones in the legends? Glass and I have heard something about this country using them. We’ve already fought them, haven’t we?”
“Yes, and they were bigger. They aren’t too powerful, but with this many of them, we may have trouble.”
Even Kizuna knew about them, which meant that I was the only one in the dark!
“If you know all about them, will you tell me already?!”
“You didn’t seem to be interested.”
I guess she was right about that. I was really focused on trying to find Raphtalia. And if we had the time to sit and chat, I’d rather have used it on leveling up.
“Feh... We’re fighting now, right?”
“Oh yeah. Things might get rough. These things are supposed to be pretty strong.”
It would be great if she would awaken to her true power, like what had happened in the battle with Kyo. But I couldn’t count on that happening, and she’d be in danger in the meantime. I better make sure she understands the situation.
“Rishia, I’m sure you understand this, but the people we are about to fight are trying to kill Raphtalia and Glass. Don’t hold back.”
“Oh... Okay!” She drew her weapon and readied it.
She didn’t exactly fill me with confidence.
I wasn’t going to place any bets on her. I’d just have to do what I could to make sure she didn’t get herself killed.
“Imma do my best!” Filo said, turning into human form with a puff of smoke. She prepared to cast a supportive spell. It looked like her fighting style had changed substantially when we crossed between worlds. Not that I was complaining.
“Don’t forget about us,” Glass said.
“Yes,” Therese echoed. They both readied themselves for battle.
We better choose our target.
“It looks like those White Tiger copies are preventing me from using Portal Shield. If we can get rid of them, I can teleport us out of here. Let’s do it.”
“Okay!”
“Hya!”
There were a lot of people in the fight, so we had to try to stay organized.
“Alright then. You may have the vassal weapon, but I’ll show you what true power looks like!” Trash #2 shouted, drawing a katana from his waist.
He was surrounded by women and tigers.
“Naofumi, you know that I can’t attack people, right? Can I leave the women up to you?”
“Got it. Kizuna, you focus on the tigers.”
“No problem. They’re my specialty.”
The tigers roared, and the battle began.
Chapter Sixteen: No Incantations
I had to get a handle on what we were working with.
Without taking any unnecessary risks, the strongest shield I had access to was the Nue Shield. It didn’t have the best counter-attacks. But I had used all the power-up methods I knew on it, so it had a very high defense rating. I hadn’t been forced to delay powering it up because of any lack of materials.
Listing my team members in order of strength, I’d start with Glass, then L’Arc, Kizuna, Raphtalia, Therese, Filo, and end with Rishia. I had no idea if I should consider Chris or Raph-chan as fighters or not.
Chris was standing at the front to protect Kizuna and was in a staring contest with the tigers. Raph-chan was standing next to Raphtalia, watching the fight with her fur all puffed up like she was ready to join in.
If these White Tiger copies were really like the Spirit Tortoise, if they were really copied from one of this world’s protective beasts... how strong should we expect them to be? Underestimating them would be a mistake, so I decided to think of them as opponents that even Glass would have trouble with.
As for their master, Trash #2... He had all those women with him, and if the battle dragged on for too long, reinforcements would probably show up. If we ran away, they would keep chasing us, and the number of our pursuers would only increase with time.
We had a chance at victory... but only if we started soon.
“Ha!”
“Grrrrr!”
One of the tigers flashed its claws and ran for Kizuna and Glass.
Glass snapped open a fan and blocked its attack.
“You’re form is all wrong!” Glass shouted, swinging the other fan to counter-attack. But the tiger was fast, and it leapt backwards to avoid being hit.
Its speed was impressive. These things were tiger-like monsters, right? Back in my world, I’d always heard the tigers were the strongest animals on land. That meant they were probably pretty strong in this world, too. And if they were copied from one of the world’s four holy beasts, then depending on the game, they might be one of the final bosses.
But—I had to remind myself—this wasn’t a game. Still, I expected them to be very powerful.
“Fehhh!”
“Rishia ne-chan! First Wind Cutter!”
A tiger leapt for Rishia, but I grabbed it by its back leg to stop it in time for Filo’s wind spell to slice it in the neck.
It didn’t do much damage. At least we stopped its attack.
Damn... Filo had always been one of my strongest attackers. If she wasn’t doing much damage, then this battle was going to be tough.
“Don’t move, Kiddo! Flying Circle!” L’Arc used a skill to send a disc of light flying at the tiger that I was still holding.
The disc slammed into the tiger and a spray of blood erupted from the wound, but it wasn’t enough to seriously hurt the monster. It’s white fur slowly turned red.
“Grrrrrr!” the White Tiger roared with anger.
“Naofumi! Shining Stones! Crimson Flame!” Therese shouted, sending a ball of red flame hurtling at the tiger and me. Therese’s balls of flame had a special property—they never burnt me.
“Grrrrr!”
The beast burst into flames and writhed in pain.
“Don’t forget about me!”
“I’m not! Air Strike Shield!”
A shield appeared in mid-air to stop Trash #2’s katana.
“What?!”
“I’m guessing you don’t know what this shield is capable of, so you’d better be careful. I thought you’d figured that out the last time we met!”
He probably didn’t realize that I wasn’t capable of attacking on my own, which was all the more reason to make him wonder what I could do.
“Arrggh!”
“What?!”
I dug my feet into the ground and summoned all my might to throw the tiger at Trash #2. It flew through the air and slammed into him.
“Aghhh!”
It didn’t do any damage to speak of, but it was enough to break an opening in his defenses—which was enough time for me to cast a spell.
I wanted to use the one that Ost had taught me—Liberation.
I had yet to cast it by myself, and I didn’t yet understand how to set the range of its effect. But I had to do whatever I could to help the others in the battle, so I chose the next best thing.
“Zweite Aura!”
First, I’d start with Glass, which would help her deal out damage as quickly as possible. I’d cast support spells on everyone in order of their strength, which should maximize the utility of the spells.
“Thank you!” Glass shouted. She matched her breathing with Kizuna’s, opened her fans, and used a spell so gracefully she looked like she was dancing.
“Circle Dance Zero Formation—Reverse Snow Moon Flower!”
The air filled with peels of flame, like dancing flower petals, which shot at the enemy. But they weren’t enough to kill the tiger, which grunted and snorted at the petals that stuck to its face.
The monster was covered in small lacerations, but they weren’t enough to turn the tide of battle.
“Shining Stones! Protection Powder!” Therese cast a spell that lowered the tiger’s defense.
L’Arc found an opening and dashed at the monster, swinging his scythe with all his might. It dug deep into the monster’s flesh, tearing through the sk
in and muscle and exposing the bone. The startled tiger leapt away.
I turned to Trash #2 and said, “Wish you hadn’t been so condescending?”
He scowled, “The thieves think quite highly of themselves. I’ll show you what I’m truly capable of!”
Trash #2 opened his hand and thrust his palm forward. Numerous balls of flame erupted from it and shot at us.
What? How did he do that? I never saw him cast a spell.
He probably knew that if he sent a big ball of flame at us, we’d block it and send it right back at him. That was why he opted to shoot a bunch of smaller ones.
“He didn’t even have to use an incantation?!” Therese gasped, unable to believe her eyes.
I understood her surprise. Casting a spell normally involved chanting some incantations. I’d once read a story about someone that could manipulate their magic power without having to chant anything.
“How’s that?”
“It’s okay,” I said, calmly blocking the balls of flame with my shield.
Based on what I’d seen so far, it was more powerful than a first-level spell but less powerful than a Zweite-level spell.
I guess they might have been difficult to defend against, which might have made them useful against someone with lower defenses than myself.
But the little balls of fire made me wonder what level the guy was at. Maybe he wasn’t very strong at all. Maybe he could do some damage if he got a hit in when I wasn’t expecting it, but from what I’d seen, I didn’t think he’d be able to defeat us.
“You mustn’t underestimate him. He has abilities worthy of one who holds a vassal weapon,” Glass said, worry evident on her face.
I guess their levels probably were pretty high then.
“Hyaaaaaaa!”
“I’ll make you pay!”
“Shooting Star Shield!”
Trash #2’s women came running at us with their swords, but I deployed my Shooting Star Shield barrier to block them. It would be easier to block them all with the force field than it would be to try to stop each of their attacks separately.
Their attacks clattered against the barrier. The barrier had broken last time, but I’d powered up the shield substantially since then, and it looked like it was going to hold.
If the barrier would hold, then...
I rushed forward, using the barrier to push the enemy back.
“I’m going in!” Raphtalia shouted. The barrier threw the women off balance, and she rushed forward to take advantage of the opening.
“It won’t work!” Trash #2 barked, sending a barrage of flames flying at Raphtalia to disrupt her attack.
She spun on her heels, swinging the katana around her to repel the balls of flame, and then jumped back behind me. She did it all in one fluid motion, and I have to say, she looked pretty cool doing it.
“Take this!” a woman shouted. She dropped the spear that the barrier had twisted in her hands, pulled a kodachi from her pocked, and leapt at me.
“Naofumi!” Rishia yelped, throwing the ofuda she’d received from Kizuna.
Probably because of the mysterious magic inside of it, the ofuda flew in a remarkable path across the battlefield and attached itself to the attacking woman’s hand, which then burst into flames.
“Argh!” she shouted, running back behind Trash #2.
Rishia was doing pretty well for herself! Maybe she had a knack for throwing ofuda.
Actually, that reminds me of our battle with Kyo. She’d thrown a sword at Kyo and hit him with it. Maybe she was suited for throwing weapons.
“We’re not finished with you yet!” Trash #2 shouted, shooting a number of magic spells at us quickly.
The first one was fire, then water, then wind, then light, and on and on. He kept throwing spell after spell at me, switching the element each time.
I didn’t get out of it unscathed, but it also didn’t hurt too much.
It was like I kept getting scratched or slapped.
“HA! Take that! And that! And that!”
The balls of magic were flying so fast that the air around us filled with dust, and it grew increasingly difficult to see.
“Zweite Aura!”
While the air was filled with dust and smoke, I took the opportunity to case boost spells on everyone, including myself. Once our stats were boosted, the already ineffectual spells raining down on us proved even less bothersome.
It was like walking in the rain without an umbrella.
“Grrrraw!” growled another tiger that leapt at us from the smoke.
The tigers were the enemy’s main offensive players. I wanted to think that Trash #2 was concealing his true power to surprise us, but it really looked like he was already throwing everything he had at us.
“Kizuna! There’s another tiger over here!”
“Yeah, there’s a bunch of them! Give me a minute! Can’t you hold them off?”
I’d have to make do with what I had for the moment—there were too many other enemies that Kizuna had to deal with.
The rain of spells continued, annoying as ever.
Trash #2’s cohorts weren’t rushing in to attack. They must have been vulnerable to the rain of spells. Instead, they hung back and cast spells. Sometimes they shot arrows or threw knives.
“Filo.”
“Whaaat?”
“What do you think?”
“Hm...” She pointed her finger at Trash #2. A blade of wind shot from her finger and sliced into his arm.
“Ah?! What?! How?!”
The blade had cut deep into his arm, and he was forced to stop casting spells, so he could tend to the wound.
“You seem to be proud of yourself for casting spells without an incantation... but aren’t you forgetting the most important thing?” Maybe I shouldn’t give the enemy advice, but I couldn’t hold myself back from addressing him as the smoke cleared. “I am the Shield Hero and the source of all power. Hear my words and heed them. Heal them!”
“Zweite Heal!”
The single spell was enough to heal all of the damage that his barrage of spells had caused, and we instantly recovered from any wounds we’d sustained.
“What was that magic? I’ve never seen anything like it!”
It was pretty impressive that he could cast spells without incantation, but Filo copied him without much effort.
I’d read something similar in a magic book once. It had said that experienced wizards could cast spells without an incantation but that the power of spells cast that way would be substantially lower. That much should have been obvious—it was like swinging a weapon without putting any effort into it.
If you swung a sword without putting any energy into the swing, it might break the skin but it wouldn’t do much more than that. The damage caused by an attack was proportional to the amount of power behind it. That was why his spells were so weak.
I guess they might have been useful as a quick follow-up attack to a throwing knife or something, but the main problem was that there wasn’t any power behind them to begin with.
“Answer me!”
“You want to know?”
Incantations were an essential step in giving shape to your magic power. They were the step where you focus your power so that you can use it. True, it did speak to his experience that he could command magic without an incantation, but skipping the incantation would definitely limit the level of magic he could use. It meant that he was skipping steps when giving shape to his power.
Maybe that was possible with simple spells, but as the spells grew more powerful and complex, it grew more difficult to shape the magic power without an incantation.
Anyway, we were in a different world now, so the magic seemed to work a little differently here—and judging by his reaction he’d never seen the spells that we were using.
“Um... Master? I don’t think I have enough magic power to do anything stronger than that!”
“Oh no? Do you think you could make it more powerful if you leveled up mor
e?”
“Yeah! I can just charge it up and bam!”
I couldn’t figure out what she was trying to say, but if genius Filo said she could do it, then I guess she could do it.
“But... if I could, um, chant the thing...”
“Filo, I know.”
“Oh!”
I cut her off. I didn’t want to give the enemy any more hints than I needed to.
She had a point. If someone was powerful enough to cast a spell without using an incantation, how strong would their spells be if they took the time to use one?
Timing was important in battle, but if he could make the time to chant an incantation without being interrupted, his spells would be much more powerful. Using spells without incantations would be good for catching the enemy off guard, but in general it was probably better to chant spells when you found the time in in the middle of battle.
That’s what Therese was doing. She chanted incantations while keeping an eye on the rest of the battle.
Was Trash #2 just trying to show off? Why would a wizard be chosen to wield the katana of the vassal weapons? He didn’t seem to have a solid grip on reality. He drew some other katana from a scabbard at his waist and came running at us.
“Taste my steel!”
He was much quicker on his feet than I expected. Maybe magic wasn’t his specialty after all.
The last time we’d met I didn’t get a good look at his skill level because I’d simply blocked his attack with my shield, but now I could see that his movements were studied and skilled.
After I put all the other heroes’ power-up methods to use, normal adventurers’ movements seemed slow and laborious to me. But this guy was very quick on his feet. I wasn’t sure I could keep up. Of course that was probably only because I was at a lower level now.
He was good on his feet. Now I could see why he’d wanted the katana. But that didn’t explain why he had the skill to use magic without incantation.
“Grrrrrrraw!” a tiger roared and leapt at me to join his attack.
Wait, no—it was after Raphtalia.
I couldn’t let it get to her! Its flapping tail brushed by me, and I reached out and grabbed it, stopping the cat in its tracks.
“Grrrraw!”
The tiger was furious, and it turned to attack me alongside Trash #2.
