by Aneko Yusagi
“Still, the method must be different. If you were to attempt to use your own power the way I’ve used mine, you could kill yourself. Human magic is quite a bit more powerful than my own.”
“Really?”
“Yes. My magic normally relies on drawing the latent power of the earth, the water, ores, and so on. It has a different effect depending on the medium.”
Listening to Ost, I was reminded of the magic system in a game I’d played once, a long time ago. Though, actually, come to think of it, it sounded a lot like the sort of magic Therese had used. She had used jewels—jewels imbedded in various accessories she wore—as a medium to cast spells. When she used her spells, the jewels she’d equipped flashed in response. It must have been the same thing that Ost was talking about.
“Can you do the same thing with jewels or gemstones?”
“Yes. They are a very suitable medium for casting spells. One of the easier mediums, actually.”
Well, that explained it. It must have been the same type of magic that Therese used. She’d had access to a lot of powerful spells, so it would be great if I could learn to do the same thing. With any luck, I might even be able to manage an offensive spell or two, which would make my life a lot easier. If the root of the power was the medium and not myself, then it shouldn’t matter that my natural aptitude was only for supportive and restorative magic.
“Great. I can’t wait to learn—if we have the time, that is.”
“Yes.”
“I suppose we should thank you for the unsolicited lecture on magic?” Eclair said quietly.
“Ost is the only reason we have made it as far as we have. Please keep your grumblings to yourself,” Raphtalia said, giving Eclair a warning.
Filo kept running as fast as she could, turning quickly to the left, then the right, bouncing and bounding with incredible speed towards the Spirit Tortoise. From time to time, one of the explosions or missiles would rock the carriage, but luckily my Shooting Star Shield force field was strong enough to protect us from any real damage. Still, it was a bumpy ride. You wouldn't want an arm or a leg to stick out from the barrier. That much was sure.
Were it not for Ost’s magic, we would all be nauseous and throwing up by the time we got with striking distance of the beast.
“R . . . Right.”
We brought the conversation to close just in time to see the massive head of the Spirit Tortoise lower down to our level and blink its bloodshot eyes at us.
“Raphtalia, Filo, finish it in one hit. Start preparing now. Eclair, old lady, you two focus on counter-attacks. Rishia, Ost, you’re on support duty!”
They all nodded, and began to prepare for battle.
“ROOAAAAARR!”
The Spirit Tortoise’s powerful attack began in earnest. Huge spikes rained down from the sky all around us!
“Shield Prison! Air Strike Shield! Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
I cast Shield Prison around the carriage and deployed the other three shields in the air over our heads.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
To offer one last layer of protection, I covered the carriage with a Shooting Star Shield barrier. As I set up our defenses, Raphtalia and Filo stepped forward and prepared to use their best attacks. I stood up on the carriage’s driver’s seat, readied my shield, and cast a spell.
“Zweite Aura!”
The spell affected Raphtalia and Filo, raising all of the their stats dramatically.
Behind me, Ost and Rishia began to cast spells.
“Feh . . . Do your best! First Power!”
“I, Ost Horai, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh great strength, I command you—grant them strength!”
“Herculean Strength!”
I felt a massive surge of power flow into Raphtalia and Filo.
Rishia’s spell was middling in comparison to the massive boost I’d felt when Ost cast her spell.
One of the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks must have made it through the barrier, because I felt something clatter ineffectually against my shield. I looked up and, sure enough, all three aerial shields were gone, and I could see the sky through a large crack in the Shield Prison.
We were surrounded by explosions. Waves of sizzling air washed over us. Luckily the Shooting Star Shield barrier was still holding, but I wasn’t sure how much longer we could count on it.
Worse yet, I could see that the Spirit Tortoise had already charged up the strongest attack it had used against us last time—the electricity beam it had shot from its mouth.
If we didn’t do something fast, it was going to hit us directly.
I quickly ran to get in front of the others and readied my shield.
The Spirit Tortoise’s mouth yawned open and a bolt of lightning shot straight out of it, like a particle beam.
There was a splintering crack, and the Shooting Star Shield barrier vanished. Instantly, I felt the full force of the beam against my shield. Straining to take the brunt of the attack, I turned back to see Raphtalia and Filo still rushing to prepare their attacks.
“Hengen Muso Secret Knowledge! Whirlwind!”
Suddenly, the old woman was right behind me, holding her hands out towards the beast. A swirling of air or something blew over us and deflected the particle beam—if only just a little. When I say a little, I really mean a little.
The shield was getting very hot in my hands. I could feel my skin burning where I held it.
“Damn. I do not have any skills that can assist Master Iwatani.” Eclair grumbled, clearly upset. I wanted to turn and tell her that I didn’t expect support magic from a swordsman—but I didn’t have the time or the energy.
“. . .”
Suddenly she held her sword out with both hands and shouted a magic incantation.
“Zweite Light Shield!”
For a moment—only a faint moment—I saw a shield of light appear before me. I never knew that she could use light magic!
But that was nothing to get excited about. The shield disappeared as soon as it had formed. It hadn’t helped at all. “I am reasonably proficient with light and supportive magic, although it’s only defensive light magic and agility-enhancing magic,” Eclair said. She sounded like she was cursing herself for not being more useful.
“Your magic will prove very useful!”
Now Ost was behind me as well. She slipped her hands over my own and gripped the top of my shield.
“What are you . . . ?”
Before I could even finish my sentence, Ost was already casting a spell.
“I, Ost Horai, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh great strength, I command you—grant power to the holy shield before me!”
The gemstone set in the center of my shield flashed, and the area the shield was capable of defending pulsed and expanded.
The shield was barely able to defend us, but now it seemed to cover and protect a much larger area without any trouble. It must have taken an incredible effort to maintain the spell. I looked at Ost. Sweat poured down her face.
“Ugh . . .”
I wasn’t going to stand there in silence. While I was waiting for my skills’ cool-down time to expire, I could use the time to cast restorative spells on Ost.
“Zweite Heal!”
I couldn’t believe that the Spirit Tortoise could sustain its attack for so long. We weren’t going to be able to hold out much longer. It was clearly longer and more powerful than it had been the last time. Finally, with a deafening crackling sound, the particle beam shrunk and dissipated.
“Now!”
Raphtalia and Filo had been waiting for my signal, and they immediately leapt from the carriage.
“Directional Sword of Heaven!”
“Spiral Strike!”
Raphtalia and Filo flew at the Spirit Tortoise’s head, gripped their weapons tightly, and unleashed their most powerful attacks. There was a great sound of blades digging through
flesh, and their attacks connected directly with the monster’s throat.
Filo was first. Her attack dug deep into the throat, unleashing a spray of blood into the air. Then she turned into a flash of light and spiraled around the monster’s throat. Raphtalia was right behind her, swinging a massive sword of light through the beast’s neck. The cleaved flesh turned to light and shone brightly as the deep cuts expanded.
“Hyaaaa!”
“Taaaaaah!”
They shouted as their attacks connected with the beast and kept shouting as they continued to slice through the monster’s neck.
“It’s tougher than it was last time, but we can’t give up now!”
“I’m doing my beeeeeeest!”
They both screamed, and shouted, and spun, and sliced, and appeared to use all the energy they had.
Keep it up! I thought. You can do it! Ost and I withstood that attack to give you this chance!
“I can’t just stand back in silence!” Eclair shouted and dashed forward, her sword in hand. She charged the sword up with her magic power and thrust with all her might. The blade only stuck a little way into the monster’s cheek, but it did do more damage than she’d been able to do in the last battle.
“Acho!” the old lady shouted. Not to be outdone, she swung her leg around and flew up in the air, forming her crescent moon attack.
“Fehhh . . .” Rishia whimpered. She was trying to contribute, but he hadn’t managed to pull off an attack yet.
Huff . . . Huff . . .
“Are you okay?”
Ost was looking very pale. She must have given too much of her energy to the shield. If she fell over now, it was clear how this would end.
“Don’t worry . . . about me . . .”
“That’s easy to say.”
“I’m alright. You must . . . quickly . . .”
I turned to look at Raphtalia and Filo.
“Raphtalia! Filo! Finish it!”
“Ha! HyaAAAAAAAA!”
“Okay! Taaaahhh!”
They shouted in unison, their voices growing higher and more strained as they expended the last of their energy, spiraling and swinging and slicing with all their might until, with a dramatic spray of blood, the head of the monster fell free from its body.
“Got it!”
“Yes!”
The head flew through the air, leaving the stump of the neck spraying geysers of blood. They landed, easy and light, and ran back to where the rest of us still stood.
“We did it!”
“Knocked its head off!”
“Great job, you two!”
“I wish I could have done more . . .” Eclair lamented.
“There’s always next time!” answered the old lady.
I held Ost on her feet so she wouldn’t collapse and looked at the tortoise’s fallen corpse. It shouldn’t move for a while.
Behind us, the army wizards were furiously casting restorative magic. It seemed to be working. All the exhaustion I’d felt a moment ago seemed to have vanished. There must have been a spell to replenish lost stamina. I think the spell worked by draining the caster of stamina on behalf of the target, or if the target was oneself, then it worked by draining away the user’s magic power.
A little color returned to Ost’s face. I removed a bottle of magic water from my shield and passed it to Ost. It would replenish any lost magic power.
“This will replenish your magic power.”
“No . . . My magic power is fine . . . I just used to much of my own . . . power.”
Weren’t the wizard’s spells replenishing her life force—or her stamina? And it still wasn’t returning? I reached into my pocket and pulled out the bottle of life force water that Rishia had been using in her Hengen Muso training. “Try this.”
I knew there were medicines that could restore a person’s life force, but I feared they might not work. Ost wasn’t human, after all. That’s why I wanted to try the life force water. The old lady had said that would restore lost “energy.”
Huff . . . Huff . . . Ost slowly raised the bottle to her lips and drank its contents. When she finished the bottle, her face slowly started to look healthier and brighter.
“That seems to have helped . . . a little. Thank you very much.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
Protecting people was my job. Part of that meant I had to physically protect them, but it also meant that I had to make sure people were capable of protecting themselves. I had to keep an eye on Raphtalia, Filo, and the others. I even needed to keep an eye on Rishia’s condition.
The queen had to do the same thing for her people. Even though we were only cooperating for the time being, I still felt that it was my responsibility to watch out for Ost. Besides, after seeing how she’d filled my shield with an amazing amount of power, she wasn’t someone that I could just ignore. If she hadn’t been there, we might have taken heavy damage.
Raphtalia and Filo had done the bulk of the physical work, but Ost had done so much for us that her role in the battle was at least as important as theirs.
“Anyway, we’d better get going while the Spirit Tortoise is still down.”
We were just about to move on to the next stage of our plan, when the disturbing sound of something large and wriggling came from the direction of the fallen Spirit Tortoise.
Everyone fell silent. They locked their gaze on the corpse.
The torso rose to its feet, and strings of flesh wriggled out from the stump of the neck.
Then, with a thundering thunk, a new head appeared where the old one had been. It was like nothing had happened.
“Wh . . .”
What happened? Just how quickly could this thing regenerate? The last time we knocked the head off, the Spirit Tortoise had stayed down for a whole week. I knew that the tortoise had impressive regenerative abilities, but I never thought it could grow a new head in a matter of minutes. What was this thing, a hydra?
The ancient heroes had stopped the Spirit Tortoise by sealing its heart—was that because of its regenerative abilities too?
“ROAAAARRRR!”
“What?!”
The Spirit Tortoise opened its mouth and roared. Then, without missing a beat, it unleashed a particle beam just like the one we’d just survived. I immediately sent out a series of aerial shields and used Shield Prison, the same defensive system I just used before.
“Ugh . . . Argh!”
“Mr . . . Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Oh no!”
“Fehhh?!”
The prison cage broke on impact, and the force field barrier broke a moment later. I could smell the stench of my own burning skin.
“Shield Hero!”
Ost wavered and nearly stumbled into me. Raphtalia dashed to catch her.
“Don’t force yourself. You need to rest.”
“But . . . But I!”
“It’s fine! Stay back!”
She must have been overwhelmed by her sense of responsibility, because Ost ignored our pleas and reached her hand out towards me.
I could barely withstand the power of the tortoise’s beam—finally, I felt as though my entire body were burning. Time either stood still or sped up. Had it been a moment or an eternity? I thought I was going to go insane from the pain.
Huff . . . Huff . . .
My consciousness was drifting, and just before I lost control completely, I felt the attack abate.
The only other time I’d been hurt so badly was when I’d used Blood Sacrifice in battle with the high priest. This time things might have been worse. I felt burns deep within my skin . . . maybe deeper.
“Master?!”
“Mr. Naofumi?!”
“Shield Hero!”
Damn. I wanted to cast a healing spell on myself, but I couldn’t focus enough to pull it off.
Just then, a warm light fell over me. My wounds began to heal before my eyes, but there wasn’t enough time to heal them completely. Still, I was healed enough that I could finally t
hink clearly. It must have been due to the supportive magic the queen was casting somewhere behind me. Considering how chaotic the situation was, I had to remember to thank her for being so quick to respond.
“Zweite Heal!”
I cast a healing spell on myself just before the tortoise raised its foot to crush us. I was just cognizant enough to block its attack in time. Good. I wouldn’t have been strong enough to block the attack with my Soul Eater Shield without it.
“Filo! Replenish your magic power!”
“Yup!”
I tossed a bottle of magic water to Filo, and she drank it.
“We’re not going to win if we keep attacking from the front. We have to retreat for now. Filo! Get the carriage and get us out of here!”
“Ok! Carriage!”
I kept blocking the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks while I used Shooting Star Shield. Within the force field, we kept moving to dodge the tortoise’s feet.
The ground shook tremendously each time one of the legs came crashing down nearby. Finally, the tortoise locked its eyes on us and raised its leg again to snuff us out, but that was just the chance we needed.
“Everyone, hurry back to the carriage!”
“Okay!”
“Fehhh . . .”
“How regrettable!”
Everyone jumped into the carriage, their faces downcast.
“Ost! Hurry!”
The Spirit Tortoise had its eyes on her now, and it moved to cut her off from the rest of us.
“Your ‘true body’ is a little overpowered, don’t you think?”
“I’m truly sorry.”
When the beast got serious it could really move!
The damn thing had ruined our plans!
“Haikuikku!”
Filo took off at breakneck speed, putting distance between us and the tortoise.
How were we supposed to fight something that was so powerful I couldn’t block its attacks? How were we supposed to defeat something that could regenerate any lost body parts, even its head, within seconds of losing them? It was impossible!
Orthodox methods were not going to work, so we’d have to think of something else. Unfortunately, nothing was coming to mind. We needed to retreat for the moment and sit down with the queen and Rishia. Even if we couldn’t figure out how to decisively defeat the monster, those two might be able to find a way that we could at least hold our ground. At the very least, we’d have better luck if we put our heads together.
