by Aneko Yusagi
“Okay! I’ll do my best!”
Young girls in love just say whatever they want.
“That reminds me. You need to stop whimpering about everything.”
“Fehh...”
“That. That little whimper of yours is going to make trouble for you. It’s annoying.”
“Fehh?!”
“Are you trying to piss me off? If you would toughen up a bit you’d be stronger. That whimper is a good place to start.”
“I’ll try.”
If she couldn’t stop whimpering, she’d never really grow. All growth started from inside.
Raphtalia had been like that in the beginning. She was proof that change was possible.
“Rishia, depending on how the battle goes, I may need you to act as the queen’s messenger.”
“Bu . . . But...”
“I know. But that kigurumi has given you a speed boost, and we still need to see how you handle yourself in battle.”
She didn’t look like she could hold her own in a battle with heroes.
But I couldn’t have her getting scared and running away either.
Even in that game where the monsters are the size of mountains, you couldn’t defeat the monsters by getting scared and running from them.
First we had to see her fight.
“Understood. We will update our strategy depending on the way the battle goes.”
“You’re in charge of the support troops. In a worst case scenario, we retreat and wait for the seven star heroes.”
“Understood. Mr. Iwatani, you are a source of morale for the troops. You must return from this fight.”
“Got it. Filo, run at that big thing.”
“Okaay!”
“Raphtalia, it’s just like we always do.”
“Understood.”
“Rishia, just focus on yourself. If things get messy, leave the front line and assist the queen.”
“O . . . Okay.”
“Eclair. You know how to handle yourself, so you’ll be fine. Just fight like you did when you dueled Ren.”
“Understood. But why do you mention Ren?”
“Old lady. I don’t have to tell you anything. Just do what you want.”
“Roger!”
I gave everyone their orders and we started our preparations.
“Here we gooooo!”
Filo took off running and our battle with the Spirit Tortoise began in earnest.
Chapter Fifteen: The Spirit Tortoise
“It’s so big once you get up close.”
The enormous tortoise was before us, advancing step by step.
When its feet hit the ground, earthquakes occurred. I felt it rattling my bones.
“It sure is.”
“It makes me want to run away.”
“I know how you feel.”
A little over a month ago I was doing all I could just to try and keep up with the other heroes. Now I was facing off against an enemy they couldn’t defeat.
It was a real test. If we were in over our heads, we’d have to retreat.
It wouldn’t hurt me. If it would end up saving the world in the end—not that I was on Fitoria’s side here—that was always an option.
I hadn’t saved it for the Spirit Tortoise, but I went ahead and switched to the strongest battle shield that I had.
Whale Magic Core Shield (awakened) +6 45/45 SR: abilities unlocked: equip bonus, skill “bubble shield”: naval combat ability 2: special effects: water element, heat beam shield (medium), magic assistance, magic recovery (small), underwater time increase: mastery Level 65: item enchantment level 6, fire resistance up 15%: karma pengu familiar spirit, water element equipment abilities up: status enchantment, magic defense up 25
The abilities that came with the Inter-Dimensional Whale type shields ended up being better than the Soul Eater Shield.
The whale had used a heat beam attack and had shot it from a spherical crystal type organ. So the shield was like a semi-spherical crystal, and its counter attack was that same heat beam.
It was also a water-elemental type shield, so I expected it to defend well against fire and water type attacks.
I can only really explain that in terms of games that I’d played, but it would mean that water attacks didn’t work well against fire-based enemies and vice versa. Some games had elemental effects like that.
If I had a number of shields with different elements to choose from, then I could theoretically choose the shield with the best element for battle against each specific enemy.
The magic assistance and recovery effects would make it easier to cast expensive spells.
And if my magic power replenished itself, that would be much easier than trying to use soul eat to recover lost energy.
“That is one big turtle.”
“Fehhhhhh! Master Itsuki!”
The turtle was surrounded by clouds of bat-like servants.
That’s right—now that we know the name of the real enemy, I was able to see the servant’s real names.
“Shooting star shield!”
I deployed the force field and pushed Rishia behind me.
“Hate reaction!”
I used a skill that caused all the monsters in the area to focus on me. The bat-like creatures all responded by swarming in my direction, firing heat beams from their eyes.
There were so many of them. When they descended on us they blocked out the sun.
I could hear the sound of the shooting star barrier beginning to crack.
It wasn’t going to break yet, but it was definitely taking a beating.
“Leave it to me! Hi-yaaaa!”
The old lady jumped out of the barrier. She was spinning like a top, kicking anything that got in her way.
A tornado formed around her and blew away the tortoise’s familiars.
“You can’t have all the fun! Hya!”
Eclair held her hand to her blade, imbuing it with magic. Then she used the point to draw an “X” in the air.
It remained in the air, flashed, then flew at the enemy.
But there were far too many of them to be beaten back by the old lady’s attacks. Every monster she hit fell, but there were many left behind.
But she quickly used the attack again. Come to think of it, her attacks may not have had a cool-down time like the heroes’ skills did. If they did, it must have been very short.
It was a good attack. I didn’t know if it had levels, but if you worked with it from level one, it could probably end up really powerful.
If we made it out of this battle and ended up with time on our hands, I would love to make her my slave.
I almost couldn’t believe my own thought process. If I found a stronger fighter, I wanted them to be my slave.
If I said that out loud, someone would probably slap me.
If both of them had been with us when the wave came to Cal Mira, maybe that battle would have ended differently.
“Hatcho!”
“Hi-ya!”
Raphtalia and Filo left the protective barrier and started to attack the swarming familiars.
“Kiiiii!”
Each time a hit connected, the bat-like familiars let out a squeal and fell to the ground.
I was surrounded by excellent fighters. I could depend on them.
If everything went well . . . But before I could finish my thought even more monsters surged into the air.
“Ta!”
“Hyaaa!”
Raphtalia and Filo were batting them out of the air as fast as they could.
Was it safe to assume the fight was going in our favor?
If they weren’t able to break through the shooting star shield barrier, they weren’t really anything to worry about anyway.
“Are you okay?”
“Yes. There are a lot of them, but they are not very powerful. We can handle them.”
“Good.”
I heard something like a heavy explosion and noticed that something seemed to be leaking from th
e Spirit Tortoise.
I soon realized it was hordes of monsters. They were like gorillas with shells on their backs, and they were running straight for us.
They must have been the yeti-like monsters we saw back in the village.
“Zweite Aura!”
I started casing support magic on everyone.
“First Guard!”
Rishia cast a defense-boosting spell on me.
That was a pretty good idea. Her stats may have been low, but she wasn’t an idiot.
“I’m going! Illusion sword!”
Raphtalia's sword flashed black and white as she swung it at an approaching monster.
The monster she hit was sliced clean in two, then those two pieces turned into black and white balls before running into other monsters and destroying them.
Two birds with one stone?
“That was great, Raphtalia!”
Eclair thrust her sword through a nearby familiar and shouted at Raphtalia.
“Yes, I did just as you instructed.”
“Let’s see if I can’t still show you a thing or two!”
“Alright!”
Raphtalia swung her sword in time with Eclair’s attack, and their attack effects seemed to synchronize. The monsters around them dispersed.
That was some impressive teamwork.
“Buchikuikku!”
Filo was running through crowds of monsters and kicking the life out of them.
“Ah-cho!”
The old lady followed behind Filo and took out any monsters that had survived her attacks.
“Fi . . . First Water Shot!”
Rishia, somewhat hesitant, shot a ball of water magic from within the safety of the force field.
It didn’t kill the monster it hit, but it did cause the monster to stop in its place.
“This isn’t so bad!”
It wasn’t, but then again, if we’d had trouble with just the servant monsters, then we’d have no chance against the tortoise.
What were we going to do about that thing? The other heroes had probably tried to battle it directly. Since they had gone missing, there was a chance that maybe they were still fighting inside of the giant’s body.
“Keep it up everyone!”
“Okaaay!”
“Yes!”
“Fehhhh!”
We kept battling the servants and advancing until we eventually found ourselves standing in front of the Spirit Tortoise.
It seemed even larger up close. Its face alone must have been the size of a village.
What was the next step?
The Spirit Tortoise looked down, directly at us.
“———!”
The tortoise roared so loudly we had to cover our ears. It didn’t look friendly.
The shooting star shield force field looked ready to cut out, so I used the skill again. Within it we were safe from the familiars. I looked up at the tortoise.
It was looking directly at us. It raised its front foot into the air.
“Dammit!”
The foot was swinging at us. I readied my shield.
The shooting star shield barrier broke with that same shattering sound I’d heard during the fight with Glass. Immediately after the field broke, the foot swung straight at me. I held up my shield.
The attack rattled my whole body.
“Ugh.”
I was pushed back a few steps. Sure enough, shooting star shield wasn’t going to be enough to protect us against the tortoise.
Seeing that the barrier was gone, the familiar monsters crowded towards us.
“Not this time!”
Raphtalia and Eclair jumped ahead of me and beat back the encroaching horde of monsters with a blur of techniques.
Rishia crouched behind me, under my cape, understanding nothing of the situation and whimpering.
“Here it comes again.”
We’d been able to survive a direct kick and the tortoise’s advance.
Things were looking good.
“Hyaaaa!”
“A-cho! Holy saint, be careful!”
“Yeah! If you get in trouble, I’ll protect you!”
The old lady and Eclair fought the hordes of monsters back and made attacks at the Spirit Tortoise’s head whenever there was an opening.
I saw a spurt of blood issue from one of their attacks, so the tortoise must have taken damage. It didn’t seem to mind though.
The shooting star shield force field ran out again. I deployed another.
“Everyone, get over here!”
“Roger!”
“Understood!”
Immediately after we moved, the sky filled with heavy clouds. Bolts of lightning fell on the familiars as they rushed to attack us.
The smell of burning flesh filled the air as the monsters fell to the ground, electrocuted.
The lightning immediately killed whatever it hit, but the shock also spread out from the target monster, causing other monsters to fall.
It was the support magic from the queen and her troops.
If they didn't get the timing right, the spell could have hurt Raphtalia and the others.
They must have waited to see my shooting star shield barrier go up before casting it.
“Alright everyone! Back on the attack!”
I shouted as the lightning subsided.
I didn’t know if our attacks would have any effect against the giant monster, but maybe it was weaker than it looked.
Maybe it was because of the queen’s magic, but there appeared to be much fewer familiar monsters than there had been.
We decided to ignore the servants when we could and started to direct our attacks at the Spirit Tortoise’s face.
“Take THAT!”
Filo charged up all her strength and kicked the tortoise hard across its giant chin.
“———?!”
The Spirit Tortoise raised its massive head to dodge her attack.
“Oooh, it’s so heavy!”
“My turn!”
The beast’s head was raised high to avoid Filo’s kick. Raphtalia dashed at the exposed neck and sliced at it with her sword.
There was a sound like a tomato being cut, and a cut appeared at the base of the tortoise’s throat.
Blood sprayed out.
But the tortoise didn’t seem hurt. The wound quickly closed itself, and the furious Spirit Tortoise turned its gaze to Raphtalia and Filo.
“I won’t be shown up by my students! Hengen Muso Style essence! Full moon!”
The old lady began to furiously kick in circles. Something shaped like the full moon appeared in the trail of her kicks and flew at the Spirit Tortoise.
It slammed into the tortoise’s face and exploded.
So that is what everyone was trying to learn how to do when they were practicing with the boulders.
It was too powerful for Raphtalia and Filo alone, but it had to deal with too many attacks.
“Now!”
“Magic thrust!”
Eclair filled her sword with power before thrusting quickly forward.
Her sword was glowing. The end of each thrust produced an impressive concussive force that slammed into the tortoise’s head.
The attack was weaker than the old lady’s, but the Spirit Tortoise was hurt by it.
“Fehhh!”
Rishia was also rushing to cast attack spells, but they were too weak to be of any use.
Still, she was trying.
Raphtalia and the others had become very powerful though. Thinking back on it, L’Arc and his crew had been oddly powerful, but the monsters you encountered in a typical wave weren’t. So even if the Spirit Tortoise was a very strong monster by comparison, was there any reason to think we wouldn’t be able to handle it?
“———!”
A huge magic circle appeared before the tortoise.
I didn’t like the look of that.
A second later, everyone outside of the force field fell flat to the ground.
“
Ugh.”
“What . . . What’s happening?”
“I feel so heavy. It’s like I’m being crushed!”
“Control your energy!”
Only the old lady was still on her feet. The Hengen Muso Style must have really been powerful!
“What happened?”
“I don’t know. It feels like I’m being sucked to the ground. I can’t move.”
Damn! I didn’t know what was going to happen, but it wasn’t good. Raphtalia and the others were in danger!
“Fehh?”
Rishia was still whimpering and hiding under my cape.
What was her problem?
The force field was shaking, which must have meant it was still protecting us from something.
I moved to try and get everyone into the boundary of the force field.
“That feels better.”
Once they were within the barrier, all three of them stood up.
Had the tortoise used some kind of gravity magic?
But the tortoise’s magic hadn’t been able to break through my barrier.
“———!”
“Wh . . . ?!”
The tortoise opened its mouth and howled.
Actually, no. I saw a shining object travel from its torso and up through its throat.
That made me nervous.
I quickly ran to the head of the group and redeployed the shooting star shield barrier.
Crackling electricity issued from the beast’s mouth.
Electricity?
Damn! I was using a water element shield!
I switched to the Soul Eater shield as fast as I could and used shield prison.
The monster’s mouth was filled with electricity now, and it roared, sending out a cloud of lighting in a straight line.
The stream of electric breath caught up any servant monsters in its path as it flew towards me.
It was like a particle cannon from an anime!
“Ugh.”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Waaa!”
“Fehhhh?!”
The force field collapsed immediately, and I could smell burning skin.
Pain overtook my whole body, but I didn’t lose consciousness.
There was a second that seemed to last an eternity. I couldn’t tell how much time had passed.
“Huff . . . Huff...”
It was hard to keep focused on what was going on, but I could tell that the tortoise’s attack had ended.
