by Aneko Yusagi
“Did he just drink some kind of crazy drug?” I asked.
I guess we hadn’t banned doping or anything, so it wasn’t like I could say he’d broken any rules. But regardless, did he really think I was just going to let him do whatever he wanted? This guy just couldn’t get it through his—
“Shield Hero? Ha! This fool is far too arrogant and troublesome to serve as our puppet!” Jaralis growled.
“My bad. I’ll get to work on that,” I said.
Jaralis’s wounds began to close up right in front of our eyes and the look of urgency in his eyes was replaced by a calm, smug expression.
“Jaralis! Watch your mouth!” Werner shouted.
“Yes, I’m afraid that judging from your earlier performance, the result will be the same no matter what kind of drugs you choose to rely on. Stop wasting time and surrender already,” the genmu added.
They both scolded Jaralis harshly. But Jaralis just started cackling as if he had no intention of listening to a word they said. I’d seen that face before. Anyone that made a face like that was certain to be up to no good.
“Surrender? What are you talking about? This is the beginning of a new era! The time has come to throw away our obsolescent faith in antiquated legends of so-called heroes and worship a new god—me!” he roared.
What was this crackpot going on about? Did he really just declare himself a god? I was trying to figure out how to even respond to such absurdity when Jaralis’s body began to grow rapidly. Finally, he dropped down onto all fours and roared. He was basically just a huge lion now. The transformation left him panting.
“This is incredible. My body is surging with power,” he said.
“Jaralis . . .” the genmu whispered.
“Have you managed to surpass your therianthrope form?! Could this truly be the beast transformation that is spoken of in the legends?!” Werner exclaimed.
Beast transformation? I slowly shifted my gaze over to Filo.
“Huuuh? What is it, Master?”
Filo had switched into fight mode in reaction to Jaralis’s menacing aura, but Atla and Fohl were technically still his opponents in the duel.
She was a filolial monster to start with, so I guess she didn’t have what would be considered a therianthrope form. Jaralis didn’t really look all that different now, but maybe I just couldn’t tell. Werner must have noticed I was confused, because he looked at me and began to explain.
“We have a legend here in Siltvelt. You already know there are demi-humans who can use therianthrope forms to increase their abilities. This legend tells of a transformation even more powerful than that,” he said.
“And you’re saying he managed such a transformation?” I asked.
“It would seem so,” Werner replied.
Hadn’t he really just taken some dangerous drug and spun out of control? I had a feeling that was closer to the truth, to be honest. But whatever.
“With this much power, the Shield Hero is no longer necessary! Yes! The whole world should praise and adore me!” Jaralis roared.
“Looks to me like you’re just full of yourself after managing to get a little bit stronger,” Fohl mumbled.
What a coincidence. That was exactly what I was thinking.
“Hmph! You’re the one who’s got a big head, hakuko half-breed!” Jaralis growled.
As soon as he finished his sentence, Jaralis’s appearance seemed to blur. He was fast! But he wasn’t so fast that I couldn’t follow his movements with my eyes. He approached Fohl from the front. Aside from me, Raphtalia, Filo, Sadeena, and Atla would probably be able to see his movements too. That was quite a few of us, actually.
“What?! He teleported?!” Werner exclaimed.
I guess it was safe to say that Werner and the others couldn’t keep up with Jaralis’s speed. I wondered what level Jaralis would equate to now, by ordinary standards. At the very least, it was unlikely that any of the village slaves would be able to react to his current speed. And with that breakneck speed, Jaralis moved his massive body to Fohl’s position.
“Grrraaaahhh!”
Jaralis roared loudly and swiped at Fohl with his claw. Fohl immediately took a defensive stance to guard himself from the massive lion’s attack.
“Ugh!”
Fohl was tough, but Jaralis’s claw drew blood when it sliced into his arm. Fohl went flying through the air.
“What?! His speed is ridiculous! Gahhh!” Fohl exclaimed.
He stumbled a few steps before steadying himself and moving back into a defensive stance. As soon as he had, Jaralis charged at him for a follow-up attack, batting at Fohl repeatedly with his claws.
“How does it feel?! You get to be the guinea pig that I try this magnificent power on! It’s more honor than you can handle, right?! How about it?! Take this!” Jaralis roared.
“Ugh! Gah! D-damn you!” Fohl stammered.
He was being beaten to a pulp. He dropped down onto a knee and tried to defend himself. Defense was all he could manage now. Things weren’t looking good.
“Hahahaha! Is that all you’ve got?! Just like I thought, you hakuko are all simple-minded fools who go rushing headlong into danger! You and your father both! ‘Leave this to me and get out of here!’ he said! Ha! The truth is we sacrificed him to save ourselves! I couldn’t have him resisting unnecessarily, you know!” Jaralis sneered.
“What?! No way . . . Did you do something to my father?!” Fohl snapped.
“That’s right! I gave him a little shove from behind! I went to all that trouble to leak our strategy to the enemy. We were supposed to look like we were losing. We would retreat temporarily, only to come back and achieve an overwhelming victory thanks to my strategic guidance. But that bastard kept turning the tables! It was so irritating!” Jaralis moaned.
What the hell? The bastard just started confessing everything. Even if he did manage to defeat Fohl, didn’t he realize he’d be going straight to the slammer now? I glanced over at Werner and the old genmu. They both seemed to be lost deep in thought.
“Die!” Jaralis roared.
He swung his claw powerfully in what appeared to be an attempt to finish Fohl.
“You bastard!” Fohl screamed at the top of his lungs.
It all made sense now. Fohl’s father had interfered with Jaralis’s plan, so Jaralis caught him off guard and killed him. Could it get any dirtier than that? Yeah, nothing good would come from having this bastard around. I’d have to think about what to do with him later, but whatever that was, he needed to be permanently stripped of all authority for sure.
“Once I’ve killed these half-breeds, I’ll show the rest of you too! I’ll show you who the strongest one here really is! Now! Attack!” Jaralis roared.
A bunch of monster-looking creatures suddenly appeared and began attacking our group and the Siltvelt leadership.
“What?!”
Werner and the other Siltvelt leaders readied themselves to fight. The demi-humans switched to their therianthrope forms, and the ones who were already therianthropes braced themselves for the incoming attacks. But . . .
“Ugh! What are these things?!”
“We are Siltvelt’s warrior elite! Can these abominations really be faster and hit harder than us?!”
“Keep calm! We must protect the Shield Hero!”
Jaralis’s followers must have been planning on starting a revolt here and taken some of those drugs to undergo beast transformations. There were quite a few of them too. They probably had some lame aspirations of killing everyone in the castle and claiming they were supreme or something. That must have been why Jaralis confessed earlier. He figured he would tell Fohl the truth since he was about to die anyway.
Well, at least things had become crystal clear now. There was no reason to hold back anymore.
“What do you mean protect me? Protection . . .”
I slowly rose to my feet. A massive gorilla leapt at me swinging and I caught his fist with a single bare hand.
“. . . is my
business! Raphtalia! Filo!” I shouted.
“I had a feeling things would turn out like this. On it!” Raphtalia replied.
“I’ll do my beeessst!” Filo cried.
Immediately understanding what I wanted her to do, Raphtalia lunged at the gorilla and cut it down. A large wolf leapt at us and Filo kicked it out of the air. Her kick produced a powerful shockwave the moment it made contact. Hmm, they did say Fitoria’s so-called advance payment had boosted Filo’s stats. The way she was moving now definitely made her look like a beast of a fighter.
“You really shouldn’t get too carried away with the tomfoolery. I do believe you’ve forgotten about me,” Atla said.
She mowed down the beasts approaching her and was about to run to Fohl to protect him. But Fohl held his hand up and shot her a glare that made it clear he wanted her to stay back.
“Atla! Jaralis is mine! This is an opponent I must defeat! Stay back!” he shouted.
“Oh? In that case, I guess you don’t mind if I run to Mr. Naofumi and hold him in my arms?” she replied.
I minded! What was she saying in a situation like this?! And Fohl must’ve already completely flipped his lid, because he just nodded forcefully. What the hell?!
“Yeah. I’ve seen how tough he is in our other battles. I won’t say I like it, but you should let him protect you for now,” Fohl replied.
“Umm, Brother? You misunderstand. It’s my job to protect Mr. Naofumi,” Atla said.
She corrected Fohl’s misunderstanding with her own nonsensical misunderstanding.
“Whaaaat?! You plan on hiding behind Atla?!” he screamed at me.
“Like hell I do, you knucklehead!” I shouted.
Raphtalia and the others were busy mowing down the attacking beasts, but they looked over at me like I’d done something appalling.
“Anyway, Fohl, if you’re going to claim that bastard as your prey, then hurry up and take care of him!” I added.
Fohl looked back and forth between me and Atla a couple of times before nodding forcefully.
“My father fought bravely and believed in his fellow soldiers. I can’t forgive anyone that would do such a contemptible thing to him!” Fohl thundered.
“Oh, spare me! I’ll send you to be with daddy right now! I have other things to attend to, after all! You know, like daring to kill a god!” Jaralis shouted.
He let out a loud, annoying roar and then lunged at Fohl swinging, as if to finish him once and for all. But Fohl blocked Jaralis’s huge claw and let out a thundering howl of his own. That was when I heard a loud thumping sound coming from Fohl.
“Wh-what?! Are you telling me this hakuko half-breed can use a therianthrope form?!” Jaralis cried out incredulously.
Fohl howled once again and his whole body began pulsating and swelling. I was confused at first, but then I figured he was changing into a therianthrope form, since it looked pretty much just like when Sadeena transformed into a killer whale.
“Brother? Are you really going to use a therianthrope form?” Atla asked.
“Oh my! It sure looks that way. I knew you had potential, little Fohl, even though you couldn’t make the transformation before. It looks like you’re finally going to pull it off,” said Sadeena.
“Is it one of those things where once you’ve done it, you can do it again any time?” I asked.
Sadeena nodded as she showered several attacking beasts in magical lightning attacks.
“Brother, please don’t tell me you plan on transforming into an adorable therianthrope form in an attempt to steal Mr. Naofumi’s heart,” Atla said.
“That again?” I mumbled.
After seeing how I’d reacted to Keel’s therianthrope form, Atla had gotten the idea stuck in her head that I would be smitten with Fohl’s therianthrope form.
The crunching sounds slowed as Fohl’s transformation approached completion and the details of his new form grew clearer. He seemed to be slightly taller than me now. He was quite muscular, but not needlessly so—he didn’t look unnaturally bulky like the minotaur had. If one imagined a tiger-man, they probably wouldn’t be far off.
Fohl was now a muscular, white tiger therianthrope, standing there blocking the fierce attack of a massive lion. He looked pretty macho. This was nothing like a cuddly Siberian husky that would go fetch a stick if you happened to throw one. This was what a therianthrope form was supposed to be. It made me kind of happy that his transformation had turned out exactly like I’d imagined it would.
“Let’s do this!” Fohl shouted.
He blocked Jaralis’s swift attack and countered with a kick to his face.
“Gah! You impudent brat! I need more! I’ll unleash even more power!” Jaralis cried.
The flow of magic power surrounding him intensified and he let out a thundering roar that echoed throughout the hall.
“Oh my, our little Fohl sure is looking cooler than usual,” Sadeena said.
“That form certainly is impressive. I wonder if I should be jealous,” Raphtalia whispered.
She was staring at Fohl in his new therianthrope form. I’d wondered what Raphtalia would look like if she had a therianthrope form several times. Would it be a female version of the Shigaraki ceramic tanuki statues? Or would she look like Raph-chan?
“Mr. Naofumi, what are you thinking about at a time like this?” Raphtalia snapped.
“Ugh! I sense that Mr. Naofumi has lost interest in my brother and is looking at Raphtalia!” Atla exclaimed.
Their intuitions were incredible!
“Maaasteerrr, we’ve defeated most of them,” Filo called out.
She was stomping on several monsters that were lying on the ground squirming. I guess I didn’t even need to get involved in the end.
“Ugh . . .” one of the Siltvelt leaders moaned.
“Get ahold of yourself! Those wounds are nothing!” shouted another.
Apart from Werner and the old genmu, the members of the leadership had stepped forward to try to protect us. It was great that they had managed to ward off the fierce attacks of the beasts, but it looked like most of them had been seriously wounded. I quietly rushed over and applied my healing magic.
“Drifa Heal!”
Just as I cast my spell, Jaralis unleashed a loud roar and the incapacitated beasts suddenly rose up like zombies. Their eyes were freakishly ablaze. They unleashed a chorus of savage roars and began attacking us once again. We were all gathered together in one spot now, and the beasts were even faster than before.
“Shield Hero! You’re in danger!”
Several of the leaders tried to charge forward to protect me, but I pushed them back and called out the name of a skill.
“Shooting Star Shield!”
The beasts crowded around us attacking, but their claws smashed fruitlessly into my barrier.
“Grrraaaaahh!”
“Raawwwrrr!”
The beasts were drooling and foaming at the mouth like a pack of rabid dogs. They clawed at the barrier and tried to bite into it.
“Eww . . . They just keep coming no matter how many times I kick theeem,” Filo moaned.
She was in her filolial queen form, kicking the beasts away as they continuously lunged at her.
“Yeah, this is starting to get irritating, even for little ol’ me,” Sadeena replied.
She launched her lightning magic at one of the beasts that had been thrown off guard by Filo’s kick. Raphtalia and Atla joined the fray, determined not to be outdone.
“Hmph, these things are tougher than I expected,” I mumbled.
“Yup! They seem to recover almost as soon as I kick theeem. I think the way they move their bodies is letting most of the power of my kicks get awaaaay,” Filo replied.
Oh? Filo was absolutely terrible at explaining things, but that actually wasn’t a bad description. The beasts attacking us were probably some of Siltvelt’s top warriors who had undergone beast transformations. That meant we probably wouldn’t be able to finish them off with half-
hearted attacks.
“But there’s something weird about them toooo,” Filo added.
“She’s right. Something about their bodies is off,” Sadeena said.
“Weird in what way?” I asked.
“They seem to be patched together,” Atla replied.
Hmm . . . I took a closer look at the beasts. I could see what looked like scar tissue where the bodies had been patched together. Jaralis or somebody must have been dabbling in human modification. It was similar to what Kyo had done in the other world. Rat probably would have been ecstatic if I’d brought her to do an in-depth inspection.
“And that ‘grraahh’ voice seems to make them stronger toooo,” Filo said.
So Jaralis’s howls had an effect similar to support magic. What a hassle.
“Hiyaaaa!”
Fohl parried Jaralis’s attack and then lunged forward and delivered a powerful straight, burying his fist deep within Jaralis’s gut.
“Gaaahh!”
Blood gushed out of Jaralis’s mouth.
“I’m not finished yet!” Fohl shouted.
He opened his hand wide, leapt at Jaralis, and then swiped his claws at Jaralis’s face, cutting deep into the flesh.
“Urgaahhhh! M-my eyes! Gaahhh! You bastard!” Jaralis roared.
He wailed and covered his eyes with his hands. But the tissue of his eyes began to swell up and within a matter of seconds they had completely regenerated. It was a grotesque sight.
“Blood! I need more blood! I need flesh! No, more power! I need more power!” Jaralis screamed.
He was looking around frantically. His eyes stopped on the nearby group of beasts that we had defeated and then he leapt at us.
“Watch out!” I yelled.
Filo and the others distanced themselves from the fallen beasts, but Jaralis simply began to devour the beasts.
“Urgahhh!” cried out one of the beasts.
“J-Jaralis?! Wh-what are you—” began another.
“Silence! Consuming your bodies will give me more power!” Jaralis roared.
He crushed one of his followers’ heads and began to devour the beast whole. So now he had turned to cannibalism!
“That’s just . . .” Fohl muttered.
Even Fohl was horrified by the sight. His face turned pale.
