by Aneko Yusagi
The Spirit Tortoise was confused as to why its leg wouldn’t rise like it normally did, and it began to rage. It spent its energy on me, trying to shake me off. Perfect. It had forgotten about the castle.
Yes!
Then I felt a vibrating energy building in the body of the tortoise, which could only mean one thing. It was about to use its special attack.
“Filo!”
“Yup!”
Filo ran around to get behind me.
“I’ve taken a lot of power from the familiar. We should not have much trouble this time,” Ost said, coming to place a hand on my shield.
The spike type was writhing across the field, but before it could get back on its feet Ost absorbed more energy from it, and it immediately stopped moving.
The Spirit Tortoise opened its mouth and was about to shoot a powerful particle beam at its own legs!
I was pretty sure that I’d be able to defend against the attack, but I didn’t want to take any unnecessary risks. I switched to the Shield of Wrath. Instantly, I felt a flame of rage flicker in the back of my mind.
“Master.”
Filo’s arms and legs were wrapped in black flames.
I could still hold out. I could hold out because Raphtalia and Filo believed in me. Wanting more of a defense, I quickly used a series of shield skills, putting a few more layers between us and the Spirit Tortoise.
Everything filled with blazing light, and a moment passed, before I heard the explosions.
I held the tortoise’s leg with one hand and protected my party with the Shield of Wrath in the other.
And when the attack hit, it didn’t hurt.
The Shield of Wrath was amazing. It withstood the attack without taking any damage.
I held the shield and braced myself for the remainder of the attack when, all of a sudden, a countdown timer appeared in my field of view.
4:37
The numbers fell with each second.
What did it mean?
The tortoise’s attack subsided when the counter read 4:15. Great—we survived the first round of attacks. Furthermore, it had been easy enough. I breathed a sigh of relief, and then I realized that I couldn’t control my body.
“Master?”
“Shield Hero?”
What was happening? I quickly checked my status, only to find that I was completely out of SP!
How? What was going on? Where did it all go?!
Did the Spirit Tortoise’s attack also drain all my SP?
I quickly switched to the Soul Eater Shield, and my SP began to regenerate automatically. I pulled out a bottle of soul-healing water and drank it. Then I used Shooting Star Shield again.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
The strange counter that had appeared, when I had the Shield of Wrath equipped, wasn’t there anymore. I was starting to get a bad feeling about all of this.
Could the countdown have been numbering the amount of time that I, or Filo, were free from the control of the Shield of Wrath? If so, what would happen when the counter reached zero?
The Spirit Tortoise quickly regenerated the charred stumps of its legs and once again moved to smash us.
“Not again!”
Just like last time, I rushed over to get a grip on one of the feet to stop it. If I had used the Shield of Wrath when I grabbed the foot, then Dark Curse Burning S would activate and hurt Ost and Filo. I had to wait until the very last second if I was going to try and use it.
Immediately, as if the Spirit Tortoise had been waiting for the chance, it lowered its head and prepared to use its particle beam attack.
How could it be? How could it use the attack again so quickly?! Even worse, there weren’t any familiars that Ost could harvest energy from!
Cold sweat dribbled down my forehead.
If the attack also drained its victims of their SP, then this second attack would use the tortoise’s recovered SP as well as all the SP it had drained away from me. The Shield of Wrath hadn’t been damaged in the attack, but I’d lost all of my SP. If I stuck with the Soul Eater Shield, then I would certainly be hurt in the attack. But the SP draining effect would be nullified, which would mean that the tortoise would need time to replenish its SP stores before it could use another attack like that.
Is that how it worked?
“Dammit! Shield Prison!” I used a skill to form a cage of shields around the tortoise’s head, but it shattered the second it materialized. I should have expected as much. How could any cage form around something so large?
Taking that logic one step further, if I couldn’t use Shield Prison on it, then iron maiden probably wasn’t going to work either.
I’d have to switch to the Shield of Wrath to survive the next particle beam attack.
But if I did, I’d lose all of my SP.
I could switch back to the Soul Eater Shield to counter, and . . .
“Master! Are you okay?”
“Ugh . . .”
Should I jump on Filo and try to escape?
The tortoise’s attack was nothing to laugh at. If it hit the army, none of them would survive.
“Ost! Filo! We have to ride this one out!”
“Okay!”
Both of them ducked behind me and I used all my defensive skills like before, surrounding the three of us with layers and layers of protection.
. . . ?
The light that filled the Spirit Tortoise’s throat was much brighter than it had been.
“Shield Hero! The density is . . .”
“I know!”
Crackling lightning sizzled and snapped over the entire body of the Spirit Tortoise, even its shell. When the whole mass of the monster was crackling with electric energy, it opened its mouth and unleashed its attack.
“Argh!”
The lighting shot at us, around us, through us, for 45 seconds. The burning was far greater than the attack we’d just survived.
Ost was using her magic to increase the power of my shield, but I could tell I was taking an enormous amount of damage. The pain was unlike anything I’d ever experienced back in Japan. It was like being burned and electrocuted at the same time.
For a second, I think I lost consciousness.
Once I realized what was happening, I cast restorative magic on myself. At the same moment, the troops in the distance cast supportive magic on us. My wounds were healed, but the deep exhaustion remained.
“I’m going!” Filo shouted.
“Good luck. If you see any familiars out there, knock them out, but don’t kill them. Ost can use them to replenish her energy.”
“Okay!”
There was no rule that said the Shield Hero couldn’t do other things besides defend against attacks. Filo kicked at the Spirit Tortoise’s head and drew its attention. It opened its huge mouth and tried to bite at her, but she was too fast to get caught.
The tortoise looked irritated as it continued to chase after Filo. While she kept the monster distracted, the rest of us focused on recovering from the last attack.
“Yikes!” Filo shouted as she slipped back into the protection of my Shooting Star Shield barrier. We kept it up for a little while, but soon enough the Spirit Tortoise was ready to use its particle beam attack again. Its mouth opened wide.
“Filo! If this thing tries to stomp us again, you grab Ost and get her out of here.”
“Okay!”
Filo’s magic had finally recovered. She closed her eyes and focused. Her feathers all stood on end. If she was ready to use magic before the Spirit Tortoise could use its particle beam, then her magic power must have recharged faster than its did.
Huff . . . Huff . . .
“Ost, don’t you do anything stupid! I don’t need you yet. I’m using a shield strong enough to survive the attack!”
“But I . . .”
“If we mess up now, it’s all over. We’re going to endure this next one.”
“I . . . very well.”
The attack was ready. The Spirit Tortoise
unleashed its particle beam, and I quickly switched to the Shield of Wrath and we made it through the attack mostly unscathed.
Without missing a beat, the tortoise regenerated its charred legs and moved to stomp us again.
“Now!”
“Okaaay!” Filo shouted and dashed across the battlefield to grab Ost. In a flash, they were out of range. I met the rapidly falling foot with my Shield of Wrath. Dark Curse Burning S activated automatically, and I was immediately enveloped in swirling black flames. The flames roared high into the air, searing the beast’s leg and face with cursed flames.
“Like that?!”
The cursed flames that came from the shield took a very long time to heal, so I was hoping that they might help counteract the Spirit Tortoise’s regenerative abilities. If it worked, it would be easier to stall for Fitoria.
The face and legs were so burned they were turning to ash, but then they regenerated as if nothing had happened.
“ROOOAAAAARRR!”
The Spirit Tortoise’s life force was unbelievable!
“Master!”
“Yeah, I know.”
I switched back to the Soul Eater Shield to save time.
The battle was feeling longer and longer.
The air was filled with electric crackling energy. A new set of spikes grew from the beast’s back and launched into the air before raining down around us.
Spirit Tortoise familiar (electric spike type)
Um . . .
“I’m goin’ again!”
“Wait a second!”
She had already shot across the field to kick the familiar. I tried to stop her, but she was too fast. Her claws swung through the air and hit the monster.
“Yaowwie!”
Filo was shocked, literally. Electricity crackled through her feathers.
“That hurt!” she yelled, burping up a cloud of smoke as she ran back to me.
“Why did you do that?”
I didn’t really need to ask. I was pretty sure that if she hadn’t stopped it, it would have attacked us. The Spirit Tortoise must have been irritated that I was down there, constantly holding its feet in place.
I turned to see Ost with her hands outstretched. She had just finished replenishing her energy stores by stealing it from the electric spike type.
“Ugh . . .”
A short while later, we had survived another one of the particle beam attacks. I turned to Filo. “Filo, when you see a chance to get away, go to the queen and find out how things are looking. This battle is harder than I thought. Make sure they get the town and castle evacuated! If we’re not lucky, the Spirit Tortoise is going to make it to the castle before Fitoria can get here.”
“But what about you, master?!” Filo shouted, on the verge of tears.
“I’m okay. Thanks to Ost, I think I can hold out a little longer.”
“Leave it to me, Shield Hero. I realize this is a difficult request, but if you can protect a familiar from the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks, it would help.”
That was a good idea. If we kept a familiar alive, then Ost could use it to power our defense.
“Got it. If we keep one around, we’ll have an easier time surviving the attacks. Get it, Filo? So don’t worry about me.”
“Okay.”
The Spirit Tortoise above us seemed to sigh with disappointment. I was using the Soul Eater Shield, so it hadn’t been able to drain off any of my SP.
With any luck, we’d make it out of the next attack alive.
Filo turned her back on the Spirit Tortoise and took off running.
“Haikuikku!” she shouted, and she shot off like a bullet.
“I, Ost Horai, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh great strength, I command you—heal his soul!”
“Soul Light!”
Ost stretched her hands out to me while she cast the spell, and I could feel my SP replenishing. As it came back, I felt more alert than I had.
I didn’t even know that there were spells like that. It was sure to come in handy.
I quickly used the Shooting Star Shield barrier again and grabbed the leg of the tortoise to impair its movement. After all the electric attacks, the ground itself seemed on the verge of giving out. It was littered with deep rifts and craters. And with the constant shaking, it was harder than ever to keep my hold on the Spirit Tortoise’s foot.
Things were looking bad.
Every once and a while, a spike from the monster’s back would fall down nearby and turn into a familiar. The newly conscious monsters then ran to attack us. Their attack power was in another league altogether, compared to the bat types we’d fought before.
There weren’t very many of them though, so even as I tried to use the Soul Eater Shield’s counter effect to replenish my SP, it didn’t go very smoothly. We were only able to survive the powerful attacks because of Ost’s support magic.
The air was filled with clashing and clanging as the Spirit Tortoise familiars threw themselves against the Shooting Star Shield barrier. If I had never had that meeting with the other heroes—if I had never learned how to power up my shields and attacks—then I never would have made it as far as I had. The monsters would have broken through the barrier long ago.
As things were, we were teetering on the verge of defeat for the entire battle. I was getting worn out. I wished there was some way to gain an advantage.
“Here I go!” Ost shouted. She began to cast another spell.
“I, Ost Horai, the source of all strength, command you! Read and comprehend all that is under the sun, and show your power to me!”
“Gravity Field! Extreme Gravity!”
A semi-transparent black sphere shot through the air and slammed into a nearby familiar and crushed the monster into the ground. Well, well, I was growing more and more interested in the unique magic that Ost commanded. But there was no time to stand around feeling impressed.
“Filo, the source of all power commands you. Hear the truth I speak, and destroy them with the angry sky’s fierce tornado!”
“Drifa Tornado!”
Filo’s spell summoned a powerful tornado that ripped the crushed familiar to shreds. Ost’s magic had put cracks all over its surface, so finishing it off had been simple.
“I’m back!”
“What did you find out?”
“She’s on her way, but she needs a little more time!”
“Damn.”
“Oh! And she said to use this medicine for your stamina. She says the restorative magic becomes weaker if you use it too much!”
Filo was carrying a satchel that she hadn’t had when she left. She took some medicine from it and passed it to me. It looked like a cough drop.
I popped it into my mouth to find it tasted like mint. Sure enough, I started to feel as if some of my energy had returned.
“She said that she saved some of these for you!”
“What is it?”
It was rucolu fruit. It was like super-concentrated alcohol. But for some reason alcohol never affected me. Instead of making me drunk, the rucolu restored my magic power and SP.
“Great. Just great,” I said, popping one in my mouth. I felt like it worked better than the medicine. I checked my status to make sure and found that my SP and magic power had been completely restored.
I turned to Ost and said, “We got some great restorative medicine, so you don’t have to worry about my SP anymore. Focus on something else.” Of course, it was also possible to restore SP with a bottle of soul-healing water.
With my ability to concentrate restored, I felt like I had a better shot of making it out of the next round alive.
“Understood.”
The Spirit Tortoise opened its mouth to shoot another particle beam.
What was the best way to defend against it?
“Shield Hero . . . The black shield . . .”
“Huh? Got it!”
We’d survived as long as we had because of Ost’s magic.
I decided to do what she said.
“I, Ost Horai, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh great strength, I command you—protect them with plundered power!”
“Drain Seal!”
I used the Shield of Wrath to protect us from the particle beam, which meant that the Spirit Tortoise had been able to drain my SP during the attack.
I prepared to eat another rucolu fruit and checked my status, only to find that I still had all of my SP. Ost’s spell must have done something to affect it.
“I have cast a protective spell on you, Shield Hero. I believe this will prevent the Spirit Tortoise from draining your SP with its attack. What do you think?”
There was a spell that could prevent something like that?
The Spirit Tortoise’s throat was filled with crackling electricity, but it wasn’t charged enough to use its attack, which must have been because it wasn’t able to use my SP anymore.
The battle with the Spirit Tortoise continued in this vein for a long while, and for the entire time, I hoped I would never have to do anything like this again. I took turns defending with the Shield of Wrath and the Soul Eater Shield.
The barbarian armor I wore had seen better days. It restored itself automatically, but it wasn’t fast enough to keep up with the incessant onslaught.
It was a rough battle.
Huff . . . Huff . . .
The countdown that appeared when I used the Shield of Wrath had fallen to 00:30. When I switched to the shield, Filo looked like she was doing all she could to control a pestering something in her head. At the same time, the festering rage and hate in the back of my mind was growing stronger.
“Ma . . . Master! I can’t . . . I can’t control it.”
Filo and I were both on the verge of losing ourselves to raging insanity. I wasn’t sure how much longer we could hold out. I realized I wasn’t going to be able to use the Shield of Wrath anymore.
“I know how you feel! I’ll stop using the shield! We’re going to be alright!”
“Please wait a moment,” Ost said. She softly shut her eyes and focused her mind. Then she reached out and touched my shield.
