by Aneko Yusagi
It might have to do that at the expense of the people living on it, but that didn’t mean it was out for destruction for its own sake. But this man was using it to kill as many people as possible. To what end?
“Hm? Oh, it has nothing to do with you people—not to you residents of this dying world.”
“So you’re not going to answer me?” I asked.
He just laughed and nodded.
The audacity! Nothing to do with us? He was killing us!
I had to calm down. Getting upset here wasn’t going to help.
He called us residents of this dying world. That had a strange ring to it, didn’t it?
“Though I have to say I’m impressed. You were doing such a great job of slowing my progress, and then you brought out that crazy monster.”
Everything that the Spirit Tortoise saw through its eyes was projected onto the wall of the chamber. At the moment, it showed Fitoria fighting against the Spirit Tortoise’s many heads. I’d had a hard enough time holding my own against one head. Fitoria was really powerful. I had to agree with him—she really was a crazy monster.
But she was on our side.
She was amazing, but I could tell that she was starting to tire. She was doing all she could to buy us time. It was time to get things moving.
“That damn thing is in my way! I can’t get any more energy! It’s starting to get on my nerves!” the man said, flipping open his book and glaring at me. “But I’ll have a better chance with all four of the heroes behind me. I was wondering where I was going to find you. Luckily, you showed up when you did! Ahahaha!”
The creep broke into another fit of laughter. What was wrong with him?
“You’ll have to get through me,” Ost said.
“Oh. Who do we have here? You . . . Who knew you could do that? These protective beasts are so stubborn. Why can’t you just do as you’re told?!”
“What good is a protective spirit that cannot carry out its duty? None at all! That is why I have decided to help he who holds the holy shield. That is the bond that connects the spirit of the shield to the Spirit Tortoise!”
“Uh-huh. So that’s why the familiar attacks didn’t work against the Shield Hero. I was wondering what was going on.”
What were they talking about? There was a connection between my shield and the Spirit Tortoise? Sure, they were both pretty focused on defense, but they made it sound like there was a deeper connection.
“I would have invited you here once you were a bit weaker, but there’s no fighting fate, is there? You’ve brought all these pretty ladies with you, too! I’ll brainwash them and keep them as souvenirs or something—so don’t worry about them.” He flipped through his book and a number of pages came loose and flew through the room—straight at me! “Die!”
I deployed the Shooting Star Shield barrier and defended. But the barrier shattered the moment the pages touched it. He must have been very powerful.
“Hya!”
“Tya!”
Raphtalia and Filo dashed to attack the pages.
It was a very large room, but Filo turned into her human form to match her new enemy.
Their attacks produced showers of sparks, but they weren’t powerful enough to do any damage to the pages. They must have taken some of the momentum away from the other pages, because I was able to defend against them without taking any damage.
“Ha!”
“Acho!”
Eclair jabbed at the pages with the point of her blade, and the old lady tried to bat them out of the air with a roundhouse kick. Rishia chased down pages that Eclair and the old lady had missed and attacked them to try and rob them of their power.
“Shield Hero!” Ost shouted. She began to cast a spell
“Well, well. Look how desperate they are to protect you! As the Shield Hero, aren’t you embarrassed to have all these protectors?”
Incensed at his stupid insults, I stepped forward. I had to assume that he was trying to taunt me, because his battle strategy was flawed.
“I’ll show you what a Shield Hero’s attack can do.”
Everyone seemed to think that all I was capable of was defense. But I was going to show this creep that there were other ways to hurt someone besides attacking them.
“Raphtalia! Filo! Don’t worry about me. Focus on attacking him!”
“Okay!”
“Understood!”
I’d used this strategy once before—during the battle with L’Arc.
“Air Strike Shield! Second Shield!”
I summoned one shield behind him and another one directly in front of his torso. Now, he couldn’t move forwards or backwards, and that left him wide open.
“Ohh! Damn!” When he realized what was happening, his face twisted in shock, but he used the pages of his book to block Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks. How long could he hope to keep up something like that?
To be honest, I was starting to like this strategy I’d come up with.
The air around him was filled with flutter pages, flitting back and forth between offensive and defensive maneuvers. With Raphtalia and Filo determined to get at his throat, it would only be a matter of time before they broke through.
“Hya!”
“Tya!”
Book pages flew around behind him and broke the Air Strike Shield.
“Too bad. Dritte Shield!”
I quickly summoned a third shield to take its place. Raphtalia and Filo were attacking him from both sides, and I used a third shield to cover the loss of the first one. I kept an eye on him—if he tried to escape by jumping up and over the obstacles, I’d use Shield Prison.
I don’t want to pat myself on the back, but it was a pretty good plan. I felt good about it.
Maybe I was born to irritate people like this. It was inherent in my personality. And I like it that way.
“Ha! Too bad I already know how many shields you can make! You can only use three shields at once—how pathetic!”
Raphtalia and Filo only needed a few more seconds.
But the enemy turned to break my shields. He wanted to shatter my pride.
He must have been watching me through the eyes of the tortoise the whole time I’d been fighting it. He’d probably been watching ever since I first started fighting the familiars. That made me want to use a skill that he’d never seen before.
“Change Shield!”
I quickly turned the shields into versions of the Whale Magic Core Shield, which had a counter effect called Heat Beam Shield (medium).
When the fluttering pages attacked the shields, they responded by targeting the main enemy and firing laser-like heat beams at him. And they were right on top of him!
And yet . . . yes! It looked like the counter-attack even activated when they were hit with a ranged attack.
The heat beams slammed into the enemy, filling the room with a deafening roar.
“Damn!” the man spat and shot a hate-filled glare at me.
At the same time the last pages fell, Raphtalia and Filo finally slammed into him.
Vween! A transparent shell appeared around him, and their attacks clattered against it, useless.
“Well, you got me to use my barrier very quickly.”
“That’s . . .” Ost stopped casting her spell and muttered to herself in disbelief.
“You think you’ll get control of the battle that easily? Ha! Composition Form One! Bird of Flame!”
Pages from the book flapped and gathered in one spot before transforming into a flaming bird that flew straight at Ost.
“Watch out!” I shouted, and I was in front of her in a flash, stopping the bird with my shield.
Damn. It was more powerful than I liked.
I was using the Whale Magic Core Shield, which had fire-resistant properties, and the attack was still hurting me.
This guy was really strong. No wonder he’d managed to destroy so much.
But that didn’t mean he was going to win. We were really strong, too.
What was that barrier that had blocked Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks?
I looked to Ost for an explanation, and she turned her eyes away. What was she looking at? I followed her gaze. I thought it would be the enemy, but I was wrong.
Now I see. That’s what she was after.
“He . . . He’s using the Spirit Tortoise’s energy to produce his defensive barrier. Breaking through it will require an enormously powerful attack.”
“Right. Raphtalia! Filo—”
“Ha! You think it will be that easy? Don’t you have any other ideas? Only fools try the same thing twice!” the crazy man shouted, holding out his hands to the crystal core. It started to glow, and the heroes encased in crystal behind him writhed in pain.
And then 10 new enemies appeared from the wall. They were familiars, and they were wearing full suits of armor.
Spirit Tortoise familiar (neo guardian type)
Ugh. They looked really strong. They each had a single eye that was visible through the slits in their helmets, and they were carrying all different kinds of weapons.
I counted swords, spears, bows . . . It was immediately clear where each of them were getting their energy.
They came stomping at us from across the room, their armor clattering loudly.
“It’ll take you some time to prepare for those special attacks you like, won’t it? Then I won’t let you have that time.”
“It’s not that much time.”
“We can take care of you!”
“Fehhh!”
Eclair, the old lady, and Rishia all ran to meet the approaching familiars. Eclair and Rishia each took on one, while the old lady managed to hold her own against two. They were at their limit dealing with four. Rishia couldn’t handle one of them—she was on the verge of Eclair saving her when Ost cast a spell in the nick of time.
The remaining six familiars were still heading straight for us. Could I hold them off? I didn’t have a choice! I stopped a neo guardian type with my shield. There was a loud clang when it slammed against me.
They weren’t too strong for me. I could stop them, but I couldn’t do it without getting hurt in the process. They must have been the most powerful familiars that the tortoise could make.
Shit! Two of the familiars had gotten behind me. They raised their bows and fired lightning shots at me. Crap! I immediately switched to the Soul Eater Shield and blocked the shots. If I could get the timing right, the Whale Magic Core Shield would be more useful. I’d have to stay on my toes.
The enemy burst into laughter when he saw how I’d been caught off guard.
“Ahahaha! How much more of this can you take? Come on! Use that brain of yours! Let’s have some fun!”
Damn. The odds weren’t looking good!
To make matters worse, more book pages flew around the room and tried to disrupt Raphtalia and Filo’s preparations. With all the chaos in the room, with all the threats coming from every direction, there was no way they were going to be able to use their attacks.
Unless we used our most powerful attacks, we’d never make it through the barrier.
This guy wasn’t the sort of enemy that we could beat if we just leveled up a little more. But that didn’t mean we were out of options yet.
I could use the Shield of Wrath to burn everything in sight. Maybe Raphtalia and the others could retreat to the stairwell to survive it.
I already used the Shield of Wrath when I was fighting the Spirit Tortoise, so the enemy knew that I had that option available. There was always the chance that he could survive the attack. Besides, the other three heroes were stuck in the room.
They looked very weak, and I didn’t want to accidentally kill them with an overzealous attack. This guy had important hostages.
The other option was Blood Sacrifice.
The problem with that was that I’d have to score a direct hit, and I wouldn’t be able to defend myself in the meantime. He could kill me while I prepared to use it. How could I get enough time?
I could use Shield Prison and Shooting Star Shield to defend myself while I charged up for the attack. But no, he’d already broken through the Shooting Star Shield barrier, so I knew I couldn’t count on it.
I was starting to run out of ideas.
How were we supposed to punch through his barrier?
What if I charged up all my rage into the Shield of Wrath and then Ost used it as a base for an attack spell?
That might work, but it would take just as much time to prepare. Still, I felt like it was the most realistic option I’d come up with yet.
Ost had her hands full supporting Eclair and Rishia in their battles with the familiars. If I had Raphtalia and Filo take over with the familiars, then he’d know what I was planning.
I looked over at Ost to see what she thought, but the man saw me and started laughing.
“Aha! That’s not a very good idea. Don’t you care what happens to the other heroes?”
“Ugh . . . these guys are . . . strong!” Eclair and the old lady were beginning to lose ground. Rishia could barely manage to stay alive. And the enemy had the other heroes as hostages.
How were we supposed to win this fight?
Damn it! Things kept getting worse!
If we had no choice but to accept a slow massacre, then I might as well use the Shield of Wrath now.
Yes. I made up my mind. But then . . .
“Flying Circle Disk!”
A blinding disk of light flew past my face.
A shining arrow followed it a split second later.
“Circle Dance, Destruction Form. Tortoise Shell Split!”
An enormous crackling ball of fire flew straight for me. I flipped up my shield to deflect it, and it didn’t hurt me at all.
Those flames . . . I’d felt them on my shield before. It flew past me and set the neo guardian types ablaze.
I turned to see where the attacks came from. I could hardly believe my eyes.
It was L’Arc, Glass, and Therese.
Chapter Fourteen: Liberation
Damn it! Things were already looking bad, and now we had even more enemies to fight! Now we were stuck between two major threats—what could be worse? They must have been waiting for the right time to spring their attack. We’d played right into their trap. They had waited until we were trapped in the deepest chamber. That way there would be no chance of escape.
Come to think of it, the mimicked forms of Glass and L’Arc had appeared just in time to guarantee their escape from the tunnel. Could this have been their plan all along?
“You . . .”
Everyone on my side of the battle bristled with caution. There was no way out. Could I use Portal Shield to escape? I concentrated on the idea, and that was when I noticed a blinking icon next to the skill name. Unavailable.
“Ha!” L’Arc leapt at me. I decided to block his attack and then send Raphtalia and Filo after him. Yes. I readied my shield.
But L’Arc flew right past me and swung his scythe into one of the approaching neo guardian types.
“You alright, kiddo?”
“What?”
Glass was slowly approaching us with those dance-like steps of hers. Therese never stopped shooting balls of fire at the familiars.
“L’Arc, aren’t you working with this guy?!” I shouted. I was sure they were on the same side, but now L’Arc jumped ahead of me and leveled his scythe at the approaching familiars.
“Come on! You really don’t know what you should and shouldn’t do, do ya, kiddo?”
“What do you mean? Aren’t you trying to destroy the world? What does it matter to you what we do?”
“Heh. Even if that does end up happening, we still have to protect what we can, right? The vassal weapon is crying about it,” L’Arc said in between thrusts with his scythe. It was making a strange sound.
Actually, so were Glass’s fans.
“As one who possesses a vassal weapon, you’ve entered a space you should not have. Therefore, we must join force
s with our enemy, Naofumi, to defeat you, Kyo Ethnina, he who holds the book of the vassal weapons,” Glass said, stepping up to stand beside me.
“Huh? What the hell is going on?”
Everything was changing so quickly. I couldn’t keep up.
So this guy Kyo was Glass’s enemy too? They were going to fight him? Because he’d done something he wasn’t supposed to?
“Get it, kiddo? You can stand back for a bit.”
“Answer my question!”
“I already told you! We’re on the same side—for now.”
“You’re not very good at explaining things, L’Arc. Mr. Naofumi, please listen to me. This man you are currently fighting is from our world, and he holds the book of the vassal weapons. The vassal weapons we hold demand his punishment. Therefore, he is our enemy,” Therese explained.
Glass spoke next. “Unfortunately we don’t have the time to explain everything. To make it simpler, even if one is from another world, they must not be permitted to take control of the protective beasts. Therefore we must join forces with you to stop him, despite how unpleasant it may be.”
What about how the mimicked familiars that had seemed to protect Glass and L’Arc when we’d met in the tunnel? Was that the enemy trying to confuse us? Come to think of it, L’Arc and the others hadn’t attacked us. For a second, it had even looked like they were trying to attack the familiars that were after us. I guess I hadn’t imagined that.
“I thought it would take you longer, but you got here pretty quickly,” Kyo barked angrily.
“Yes, no thanks to all the trouble you sent after us. You even managed to keep us from teaming up with Naofumi’s party earlier on, didn’t you?”
“You expect me to tell you anything?”
“That’s all the answer I need.”
“Damn it.” Kyo spat.
That was stupid. Didn’t he realize that by pretending not to answer, he was telling them what they wanted to hear? He was obviously just pretending to be intelligent. I didn’t like him, not one bit. He really was Glass’s enemy.
“Oh man, after we saw you, kiddo, things got pretty rough. The floor caved in and we ended up in a really weird place,” L’Arc started to complain. But I didn’t have time to listen to him.
