We made our way up
onto the shell without much trouble. The giant spikes dominated the landscape,
but the mountain range that covered the shell was still formidable. Trees and
shrubs grew between the boulders.
The legends spoke
of a cave in the mountains that would let us inside of the monster’s body. We
were able to find a cave the last time we were on the shell, but it hadn’t led anywhere.
Unfortunately, the
shell was swarming with familiars, and we had to battle large groups of them to
progress. We ran into huge groups of the bat and yeti types, but I couldn’t
figure out where they were coming from. Luckily we didn’t see any of the
parasitic types. But that was the end of our good luck.
It was exhausting
searching the mountains and the spikes for hidden caves. It was like we had
gone mountain climbing with the coalition army in tow. To make matters worse,
the tortoise was still locked in battle with Fitoria, and the constant motion
made progress difficult.
“Ost, do you have
any ideas?” I was hoping that she would be able to lead us to the cave. She’d
told us about the cave that theoretically led to its heart.
“I suspect it may
lie in that direction.”
“Then that’s where
we’ll go. You all back there, make sure you keep up!”
“Yes, sir!”
I followed Ost’s
lead down a winding mountain path.
Raphtalia and
Eclair stayed behind us, striking down any familiars that got too close. The
queen and Rishia followed them, casting support magic on the group when
necessary. But there were so many familiars, and they attacked the group so
fervently, that the army was still losing soldiers.
“Filo!”
“Yup!”
She saw the monster
I was warning her about and swung her claws to send it flying.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Screams rang out
from the group behind us, and Raphtalia immediately rushed off to find the
source of them.
“We have been able
to stall the tortoise’s movement, but the vast numbers of familiars continue to
be a serious threat. The longer we spend up here, the more people we are going
to lose.”
“If only we could
have come with a smaller, specialized group . . .” I sighed. If the army
soldiers couldn’t survive a battle with the familiars, what chance would they
stand against the heart? Could they even survive the journey? From what I could
tell, there was an inexhaustible supply of monsters on the shell. It was going
to be difficult.
I was fretting over
their chances when a splinter battalion of the army came running up behind us.
They had been traveling separately from the main group. “We’ve found a cave. We
believe it may be the place we are searching for, the cave to the heart,” a
soldier reported. He was pointing far off into the center of the mountains. I squinted
in the indicated direction, and sure enough, I thought I could make out a dark
opening in the rock.
I think I might
have found the same cave the last time we’d climbed up on the tortoise’s back,
but the mountains had all changed shape since then.
“I’ll take the
lead. Let’s get going!”
“Roger that!”
“Everyone! Follow
the Shield Hero!”
The army soldiers
raised their weapons and shouted their agreement.
We followed a
tattered mountain path to the cave opening, battling hordes of familiars the
whole way. Finally, we stood before the entrance. I led the way in.
“Be careful.”
“You too,”
Raphtalia said and used her magic to summon a glowing ball of light. We needed
it to see where we were going.
I led the way
inside, followed by Raphtalia, then Ost, Eclair, Filo, and Rishia. Then came
the queen, the old lady, and the rest of the troops. Once inside, I recognized
it as a cave we had found before, but the layout had changed considerably since
then.
The walls were
covered in monsters that looked like eyeballs, which hadn’t been there the last
time. They were called Spirit Tortoise familiars (installation type). There
were other monsters too—large and bulbous maggot-like things—but nothing that
we couldn’t handle.
The main obstacle
we faced wasn’t the monsters in the cave. No—it was the cave itself. It split
into tunnels that led in different directions and wandered, maze-like, without
any clear indication of the right way to go. The walls were not made of living
flesh. They were made of stone and dirt. It made me wonder if the tunnels would
really lead us into the body of the Spirit Tortoise. I started to wonder if we
wouldn’t have better luck crawling into the monster’s mouth, not that I really
thought that would be any easier.
“Do you know the
way?”
“I brought materials
that we compiled after the last investigation,” the queen said, unrolling a map
to show me.
“That’s great.”
Without a map it might have taken days to figure out where to go. That was time
we didn’t have. Just as I’d thought, the map showed a number of branching
maze-like tunnels. And it also seemed to indicate that there was another
entrance on the other side of the mountain, where the town ruins lay.
“Should we see if
this path will take us to the ruined temple?”
“That’s a good
idea. Perhaps there is some kind of hint in the ruins. We need all the help we
can get.”
There was another
problem, too. The map wasn’t complete, and it didn’t show how to get to the
Spirit Tortoise’s heart. Either they hadn’t finished mapping the tunnel system
or the path to the heart was only open when the Spirit Tortoise was reawakened
and on its feet. I decided it was probably best not to depend on the map too
much, as there was no telling how accurate it was.
“Huh?”
The map indicated
that we would soon come to a large open space. It seemed like a good spot to
split into different search parties. We had plenty of people, after all. So
many, in fact, that it was getting more and more difficult to lead them through
the narrowing tunnels.
If the soldiers
were as strong as Raphtalia or Filo, then it wouldn’t have been a problem. But
of course that wasn’t the case. I decided that it would be best to have the
army wait in the large chamber while we split off to find the best way forward.
I held up the map and told the soldiers where we were heading, but . . .
“What? Wasn’t it
supposed to be here?”
“That’s what the
map says.”
We’d followed the
map exactly, but instead of opening into a larger chamber, the path had morphed
into a winding tunnel unlike anything on the map.
“The map must be
wrong.”
“How strange. It’s
been accurate up until this point,” the queen said and frowned.
Did the caves
change shape when the Spirit Tortoise reawakened? The gnawing sense of doubt in
my gut was getting worse. What was going on? We had no choice but to follow the
new path. Luckily, there was only one way forward, so we didn’t have to worry
about choosing the right path. Had we come to a fork in the road, it would have
been better to find a place for the army to wait.
But that wasn’t the
case, so the whole group continued down the long winding path.
Eventually, the
tunnel opened up into a large chamber of some kind. Was it the same chamber
we’d been searching for? Maybe the major rooms and chambers in the cave system
stayed the same, but the paths that connected them changed. Anyway, I was glad
we’d found the chamber we were looking for, except that . . .
“Damn. Those are
big.”
The chamber was
certainly large, but there were familiars in the room that utilized all the
space.
Compared to the
innumerable familiars we’d fought on our way there, these were much . . .
larger. The way they filled the room made me think that they were positioned
there purposefully to ward off any invaders that made it this far. Had this all
been an RPG, I would have called it a mid-dungeon boss fight.
And this was the
Spirit Tortoise. So they were probably going to be pretty powerful.
The worst part was
the number of them.
“One, two, three .
. . There’s kind of a lot of them.”
In the end, I
counted seven or eight. Sure, we could have handled one of them, but with seven
or eight to deal with, I worried about the soldiers.
“What should we do,
Mr. Naofumi?”
There was also the
possibility that more might spawn as we defeated them. There was only one way
to find out.
“There aren’t too
many of them, so let’s try and take them out on our own. I’d like the soldiers
to stay back for now. Let them know.”
“Roger!”
“Okaaay!”
“Feh . . . I’ll do
my best.”
“Then let’s do
this!” I shouted and led the charge toward the familiars.
The monsters were
different than the gorilla or yeti-like familiars we’d faced outside. They were
more like . . . turtle men? They seemed to be around four meters tall.
When I got closer,
their names appeared: Spirit Tortoise familiar (guardian).
“Hya!” Filo shot at
one of them and kicked its shell. The shell fell off with a loud crack and the monster slammed into a wall.
“Yahhhhhh!”
Raphtalia swung her sword and lopped off a guardian’s head. I knew I could
count on her.
Rishia helped
Raphtalia and Filo by casting weak offensive spells to draw the guardian’s
attention. I tried to draw their attacks, too. Whenever one rushed at me, I
used Shooting Star Shield to put a barrier between us. All in all, I was
impressed with our teamwork—we’d get a passing grade for sure. But teamwork had
never been our real problem. Our real problem was flat-out strength, and we
just needed to improve our stats for that.
Anyway, I had to
focus on the battle.
“Ha!” Ost stretched
out her hands, and one of the guardians immediately froze in place.
Eclair, the old
lady, and Rishia seized the opportunity and rushed in to finish the beast off.
“Icicle Needle!”
the queen shouted, casting a spell that slowed a guardian down to a crawl. She
was pretty good.
“How
disappointing,” Raphtalia clipped as she flicked blood from her sword and then
plunged it into a guardian, killing it instantly.
She was right—the
monsters were weaker than I’d expected.
Considering how
strong the Spirit Tortoise was, who could blame me for expecting a tough fight?
Was I all worked up over nothing?
No. I had to worry
about the soldiers behind us, after all. A little paranoia was just what I
needed.
“Yup! I know!
They’re kinda hard though!”
“Maybe that’s
because you’re only attacking the hard part on the back?”
“But the rest is so
soft!”
“Don’t waste your
energy.”
The two of them
bantered over the most trivial things! It was like listening to two little
geniuses bickering.
“Both of you are so
strong!”
“Rishia, you’ll be
strong too. How are your Hengen Muso studies going?”
“Feh! I’m doing my
best!” she shouted, jabbing her sword into a guardian.
“That’s it! If you
imagine that you are attacking our holy saint here, there isn’t an enemy alive
that you cannot defeat!”
“You old bag.”
Why would she
encourage Rishia to attack me? Obnoxious old woman . . . Then again, I couldn’t
argue with the results. Rishia’s sword went straight into the guardian’s chest.
Yikes—is that what she wanted to do to me?
Before long, we’d
cleared the room.
“I guess there
aren’t any more coming.”
“I guess not.”
I had half expected
an endless stream of monsters to fill the room when we finished with the
guardians, but apparently that wasn’t in the cards.
“Wow,” the soldiers
who were all flabbergasted by our display of strength muttered to themselves in
disbelief.
It wasn’t that we
were particularly strong though. It’s that the soldiers were so weak. I
wondered what the average level of the troops was. If they were at level 60 or
something, that would be really pathetic.
“My queen. Zield
Hero.”
A shadow appeared.
I didn’t even know there was one around.
The shadows were
special secret agents under the queen’s command. If you picture ninjas, you
won’t be too far off. Judging from their bloodstained short swords, they must
have been fighting the guardians alongside us.
“What is it?”
“We will uze this
chamber az our base of operations.”
“Sure. I didn’t
even know you were here.”
“We’ve been
entrusted with the zafety of the troops for this operation.”
“Do as you will.”
“Yeah.”
They said they were
here to protect the troops, but weren’t they part of the troops themselves?
They must have been there to fight, too. Were the Spirit Tortoise familiars so
powerful as to deserve all this? I guess it made sense to think of the
coalition army troops as a special unit assigned to our mission to imprison the
Spirit Tortoise. For a mission like this, they probably chose troops for
abilities other than their skill in combat.
“Listen up,
soldiers! We’re going to use this camber as our base of operations while we
search for the Spirit Tortoise’s heart! Your orders are to protect this chamber
while we search for the heart!”
“Roger!” the troops
shouted in unison. The air of tension and dread that had followed us dissipated
as they spread out to fill the chamber. They began to cautiously relax. They must
have been even more terrified and exhausted than I’d thought.
Had they done
anything that warranted so much exhaustion? Had they done anything like what
I’d done when I had to endure all the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks? Maybe I was
different because of the shield. And maybe Raphtalia and Filo were just
strange. Whatever the case may be, we had a lot to think about after we
defeated the Spirit Tortoise.
“Shadow, do you
know what the average level of a coalition army soldiers is?”
“The special troops
azzigned to this mission have an average level of 65.”
“That’s even worse
than I thought,” I said, turning to the queen. “You’ve got to do something
about this. These troops are so weak they are worthless. Raphtalia is only in
the 70s, so why is she so much stronger?”
“The level of
strength that Raphtalia commands would normally require many years of
training.”
Really? Did my
maturation adjustment ability really make that big of a difference?!
Maybe Rishia was
normal after all, and anyone that didn’t have access to those adjustment
abilities could only hope to command a certain level of strength? I shook the
thought away. Things couldn’t be that bad. Besides, Itsuki had conspired to
remove her from his party because she was so weak. And thanks to the Filo kigurumi,
she was even stronger than she had been at that point.
I considered asking
the old guy from the weapon shop to mass produce the kigurumis, but we only had
the materials to make two more. Mass-produced Filo kigurumis, hm . . . Maybe we
could do it if we plucked all of Filo’s feathers.
“?!”
Filo’s feathers
suddenly stood on end, moving in a wave from her head to her tail. She looked
scared.
“What is it?”
“Something feels
weird!”
Had I been speaking
out loud? She could be sharp when she wanted to. We probably couldn’t pluck her
feathers if we tried.
“The shadows are
stronger than the other soldiers, aren’t they?”
I wanted to think
so, but I couldn’t send them out to look for the heart if they were going to
end up killed by a bunch of little monsters. Come to think of it, I’d never
actually seen a shadow in battle.
“We are trained for
battle and assassination, so we should prove uzeful in battle.”
“Great. Half of you
stay here and protect the soldiers. I need the other half to help us find the
heart.”
“Underztood.
However, the shadows have zuffered heavy losses in these recent battlez. I hope
that your expectations are realiztic.”
“They are,” I said.
The planning was just about finished.
We still had a long
way to go. I’d send the shadows searching for the heart and let the troops rest
until then. In the meantime, we would conduct our own search..
“Eclair, old
lady—you two stay here with the troops and fight off any monsters that show
up.”
“Understood!
“Roger that!”
“Filo, you go with
the shadow search party. Use your nose! I’m counting on you.”
“Okaaaay! No
problem!”
As for the rest of
them . . .
“Raphtalia, Ost,
Rishia, and the queen, you all come with me. We’re heading out the other side
of the cave and going to the ruined temple.”
“Alright.”
“Agreed. We need to
find the heart, but we also need to find out how to put an end to this.”
“Feh . . . I’ll do
my best.”
“Very well. Your
wish is my command, Mr. Iwatani.”
I was a little
hesitant to bring the queen with us, but when it came to legends and culture,
she was more knowledgeable than anyone I knew. We needed her. Besides, she had
a lot of bodyguards and was very powerful herself. It was easier to protect her
than the army troops.
“Hya!” Raphtalia
shouted, slicing a monster that leapt at her in half.
“They just keep on
coming! There weren’t so many of them outside, so I guess I got careless.”
We were working our
way through the tunnels to get to the temple ruins, but we were running into so
many familiars that our progress was slowing down. The cave system must have
been a nest for the familiars. That was the only way to explain it.
Even worse, the map
was proving mostly useless. My patience was starting to wear thin.
It was fun to
explore dungeons in an RPG, but we didn’t have the time to waste on
exploration. We only had the time we did because Fitoria was still locked in
battle with the Spirit Tortoise. And it even had more heads than it had when
I’d fought it. She was out there fighting for us, in a hailstorm of exploding
missiles. It was no time to go exploring.
We had to rely on
intuition and luck as we trudged through the tunnels on our way to the temple.
And then we came to a fork in the road.
I turned to the
queen and asked, “Which way do we go?”
“The tunnels
themselves may have changed, but I believe we are still moving in the right
direction.”
“I believe it may
lie . . . over there,” Ost said. She pointed in the opposite direction of where
we thought the town ruins were.
“That’s the
opposite direction. Are you sure?”
“Somehow . . . I
feel like I can see the way through, very faint, there . . . sorry.”
Do we trust Ost’s
intuition, or do we trust in the direction we knew the town to be in?
It was a tough
choice, but Ost was actually one of the Spirit Tortoise familiars. She had to
be connected to it some way. If so, then it made sense to put our faith in her.
Besides, she’d proven herself trustworthy by now. If she betrayed us now, I’d
personally see to it that her punishment was severe.
“Alright. Let’s
follow Ost for now.”
“Very well. Let us
go,” Ost said, and we followed her down the path she chose.
It didn’t take very
long to realize that I’d made the right decision. Within a couple of minutes,
the tunnel turned sharply and we were once again walking in the direction of
the ruined city. Had we taken the other tunnel, it probably would have turned
sharply too, but that would have dropped us out on the other side of the
mountain.
So I was feeling
confident about the choice I’d made, but then we came to another intersection .
. . and it was filled with skulking familiars.
“Hey!”
“Icicle Frozen!”
Before the monsters
could even notice us, Raphtalia was on them with her sword, and the queen cast
a spell. Ost used her magic to slow the monster’s movements, and Rishia plunged
her sword into a stunned monster.
“Let’s see . . . .
where is this tunnel going to take us.”
Ost finished one of
the monsters off, and I looked over at her to see a flock of flapping bat-type
familiars come rushing around a corner, followed by a group of people.
“Are those
adventurers?”
What would
adventurers be doing in a place like this? There were three of them.
One of them was a
man, and he was a little taller than me. He held a spear in one hand and was
wearing heavy armor. All in all, he carried himself gracefully.
The next person was
a very white girl with pigtails. She didn’t look childish exactly, but she had
a very sharp, alert air about her. She wore light armor, and she didn’t seem
very comfortable in it. I got the impression that she hadn’t been doing this
for very long. She was shorter than me, but . . . something about her just felt
off.
The last person was
a woman, and she wore her hair in a short bob. She looked very sophisticated,
like she came from a good family or something. She looked like a wizard with a
royal bearing. Her hair was . . . red?
All in all, it was
a pretty odd-looking group of people.
A lot of
adventurers had been drafted to join the coalition army. But the battalion that
had been assigned to join us on our mission had been carefully chosen by the
crown. I couldn’t imagine anyone from that battalion breaking orders to follow
us down these tunnels.
“You might be after
fame and fortune, but I strongly suggest you get out of here as quickly as
possible.”
“Oh, um . . .
Understood.”
“Mr. Iwatani, a
minute please. Something about this doesn’t seem right, does it? What are
adventurers doing in a place like this? Did they sneak in here last week and
become trapped when the Spirit Tortoise reawakened?”
Her idea was worth
considering. They could have been exploring the Spirit Tortoise after we first
defeated it. When the tortoise reawakened, they might have run into the tunnels
to escape from the swarms of familiars. I could imagine something like that
happening.
“ . . . ?”
Raphtalia seemed to be bothered by something. She stepped forward.
“What is it?”
“It’s just . . .
these people appear to be using magic to hide something.”
Raphtalia was
naturally inclined to use light, dark, and illusion magic. If someone used that
sort of magic to hide something, she was more sensitive to it than other people
would be.
The queen was
concerned. “That’s very strange, isn’t it, Ms. Raphtalia? Is there anything you
can do about it?” I would have asked the same thing if the queen hadn’t said it
first.
“I can try,”
Raphtalia said before she addressed the strangers. “Forgive me, but I suspect
you are hiding something from us. Please give it up.” She quickly began to cast
a spell.
But the strangers
immediately jumped back to get distance from her.
“Damn!”
They must have had
something to hide. But it was too late!
“I am the source of
all power. Hear the truth I speak. Show me their true forms!”
“Anti-Mirage!”
Light poured from
her outstretched hands and illuminated the tunnel. The magic light expanded to
fall on the adventurers, and when it did the spell they had been using broke.
I was speechless
when I saw their true faces.
“Y . . . You!”
Three adventurers?
Ha! I should have known there wouldn’t be three adventurers just walking around
here.
A man stood at the
front. He seemed nice and dependable. It was hard to ignore the massive scythe
he carried. A woman stood behind him. Her skin was white like a ghost, and long
black hair fell over her shoulders. She carried a set of folding fans. Another
woman stood behind them both. Her hair was as blue as the sea, and a gemstone
shone from where it sat at the center of her forehead. She wore bangles on her
arms—bangles that I had given her.
I’d never forget
their faces. They were our enemies, and we had to defeat them.
“Damn! Guess there’s
no use hiding if they can see us. I didn’t want to run into kiddo here.”
“L’Arc, you knew
it.”
“After all the
precautions we took . . .”
That’s right. The
strangers in the tunnel were none other than L’Arc, Therese, and Glass. But
what were they doing here?
Glass appeared from
rifts in the air during the waves of destruction. But L’Arc and Therese had
been here before the wave came, so they must have been able to come and go as
they pleased.
L’Arc and Therese
were dressed the same way they had been when we last met. But not Glass—she
looked so different that it was hard to recognize her at first.
Her hair was pulled
into pigtails, and she was wearing a European-style set of light armor.
Each time we’d met
she had been dressed in a Japanese-style kimono, so you can understand how
strange it felt to see her dressed like this. She might have changed her hair
and her clothes, but she still carried herself the same way.
Not missing a beat,
I jumped forward and readied my shield. “Great timing. I’ve got questions for
you. What are you doing here? How are you connected to the waves? Better start
talking!”
They answered by
readying their weapons.
“Glass, this isn’t
the place—” But before L’Arc could finish his sentence, a hole opened in the
wall beside us and a Spirit Tortoise familiar (installation type) appeared.
Then it kept happening. In a flash, the wall was covered in holes, and they
quickly filled with squirming familiars. The eyes blinked and then started to
shoot heat beams at us. To make matters worse, they seemed to be ignoring Glass
and her cohorts. They only focused their attacks on us!
“Shooting Star
Shield!” I shouted, creating a barrier to protect us from the volleys of heat
beams. The timing of the attacks almost made it seem like they were protecting
Glass and the others. They seemed to be attacking us on purpose, as if directed
by an unseen hand.
“So that’s how it
is.”
There was only one
explanation for everything. Glass and the others were behind the Spirit
Tortoise’s reawakening.
“Damn! They don’t
let up!” L’Arc snapped, glaring at the attacking familiars.
What was he trying
to say?
“Hya!” Raphtalia
shot forward, swinging her sword to deflect the familiar’s attacks, and then
charged at L’Arc and his friends.
“I suppose there is
no stopping it,” Glass said, slapping open her fans and meeting Raphtalia’s
charge.
Dashing forward, I
covered Raphtalia with the Shooting Star Shield barrier. The tunnel was very
narrow, which made it difficult to maneuver through. The barrier blocked her
movement and separated Glass from her friends.
“Glass!”
“Madam!”
L’Arc and Therese
shouted to Glass.
What’s the matter?
Were they afraid of splitting up?
And yet Glass’s
attacks were weaker than before. I had been expecting her to shatter my barrier
with a tap from her fan, but it didn’t happen. Something was strange. She had
been so powerful when we fought on the islands.
“Kiddo! This isn’t
the place to—”
L’Arc was trying to
yell something, but it was lost in the nonstop barrage of familiar attacks.
“Would it be safe
to assume that these strangers are responsible for the changes in the Spirit
Tortoise?” the queen asked in between casting spells.
It certainly seemed
likely. The familiars were only attacking us, after all—what else was I
supposed to make of that?
“Shield Hero!” Ost
shouted. She had been doing all that she could to halt the motion of the
ever-increasing hordes of familiars.
“What?”
“I cannot affect
the motion or the energy fields of these monsters! They are being directly
controlled by someone!”
“Makes sense to
me!”
Glass and the
others must have been using the familiars to attack us for them.
“But we don’t have
time for this!”
L’Arc and Therese
flashed their weapons and looked like they were concentrating. They were about
to use attack skills on us!
I couldn’t let that
happen! I immediately used Shooting Star Shield and Air Strike Shield to
protect us. When the shield appeared in the air before us, it nearly filled the
whole tunnel. It was hard to see around it, but at least that meant I had less
area to worry about defending. I just hoped they weren’t about to use magic on
us.
But my fears were
unfounded. L’Arc, Glass, and Therese’s skills went off without a hitch and hit
their targets, filling the tunnel with streams of sparks. They must have
intended to hit the familiars too, because I could hear the monsters screaming
and dying.
My Shooting Star
Shield barrier shattered, and their attacks slammed into the Air Strike Shield.
It was holding, but it wouldn’t last long. Before it could break though, I saw
a familiar appear on the ceiling above us. It opened its eye and prepared to
shoot a heat beam straight at us!
But then, before it
could attack, the ceiling around it cracked open.
“Hey, kiddo! Watch
out!”
“Is that what . . .
?”
I couldn’t hear the
rest of what they said. The ceiling gave out completely, and the tunnel caved
in over us. I was able to use Second Shield before the boulders fell on us
though, and it protected us from the falling rocks. The dust was so thick that
I couldn’t breathe. We had to back down the tunnel to get out of the dust.
Cough!
“Damn them.”
The tunnel was too
narrow to have a real battle.
We could barely
manage fighting off small familiar monsters like bat types and installation
types, much less hold out own against Glass and the others. There wasn’t even
enough room for the queen and Rishia to support us with magic. As for Ost,
she’d tried—and failed—to stop the monsters’ movement.
But there was one
thing I’d learned for sure from the battle: Glass and the others were involved
in the whole Spirit Tortoise mess. I even thought there was a good chance that
they were behind the whole thing.
“What should we
do?”
“The tunnel caved
in. Do you think we can get it cleared?”
From what I could
tell, they’d caused the tunnel to collapse so that they could escape.
“It won’t be easy.”
“That’s what I
thought.” I didn’t know if we could get it cleared. Even if we did, there was
no guarantee that it wouldn’t just collapse again. The ceiling was solid rock,
but it had broken so easily.
I wondered if the queen
could use her ice magic to stop further collapse, but that would require very
precise magic use, and I wasn’t sure if that was possible in such a narrow
space.
“I guess we either
need to take a detour or turn back.”
“If we head back a
little way, we might find a path that will lead us back to the other side of
the cave in,” Ost suggested.
Should I trust her
intuition again? She did share a connection with the Spirit Tortoise, after
all.
The dust in the
tunnel slowly cleared while we debated our options, and when it was finally
clear, I was shocked to see Glass and L’Arc still standing there!
“. . .”
They were smiling
silently. Their eyes were shining red, and they held creepy weapons that seemed
to be formed from tortoise shell. When they saw us, they came running in our
direction.
“Ugh.”
I used my free hand
to block Glass’s fan and L’Arc’s scythe and stared at them in disbelief. They
had terrifying, distracted smiles plastered on their faces when they met my
gaze.
What was going on?
They were different from before, and they were moving strangely too.
Suddenly, monster
names appeared in my field of view.
Spirit Tortoise
familiar (mimic type)
Mimic?! So it
wasn’t actually Glass and the others?
If these monsters
looked like them, could they fight with the same strength too?
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia swiped at
them with her sword while Ost and the queen began to chant incantations. One
step behind them, Rishia was in the middle of casting a support spell on me.
“. . .”
The fake Glass
jumped back to avoid Raphtalia’s sword, while the fake L’Arc ignored me and ran
to swing his scythe at Raphtalia.
“What do you
want!?” Raphtalia shouted at the L’Arc copy.
“That’s not the
real L’Arc. They must have run away and been replaced while we couldn’t see!”
“Mr. Iwatani! Ms.
Raphtalia! Duck! Icicle Sword!”
A swirling cloud of
ice crystals shot from the queen’s hands, then coalesced to form an enormous
blade that flew at L’Arc. Raphtalia and I saw it just in time to duck under the
flying blade.
The fake Glass and
L’Arc held their hands out in unison and stopped the twirling blade with their
palms. They must have been pretty damn powerful to pull that off.
How were we
supposed to fight such powerful enemies in such a small space?
“. . .”
The fake Glass spun
her fans and was quickly enveloped in a swirling cloud of tremendous heat. I’d
seen her do that before, and I was pretty sure it was the start of her special
attack, Circle Dance Zero Formation, Reverse Snow Moon Flower.
I think the attack
was aligned with a particular element, though I didn’t know what it was.
Furthermore, I had no way of knowing if attacks from the Glass copy would be
the same.
How could she use
an attack like that in this narrow tunnel?! The ceiling looked like it was on
the verge of further collapse. If I didn’t do something, the tunnel would cave
in again. If I let it cave in, it might kill these monsters for us, but then
again it might kill us along with them.
“. . . !”
The copy of L’Arc
prepared to use an attack.
I knew what sort of
attacks L’Arc used too, and I’d seen that pose before. It looked like Flying
Circle, which turned his scythe into a rapidly spinning disc of energy.
Just as I’d
expected, the fake L’Arc started to spin his scythe horizontally over his head.
But it never turned into a circle of energy. Instead, he simply threw the
spinning tortoise shell scythe at us.
Both fake Glass and
fake L’Arc’s attacks slammed into my shield—a direct hit.
But they weren’t
very powerful and certainly nothing I couldn’t handle. Luckily, these mimicked
versions of our enemies didn’t seem to be as powerful as the real thing.
I blocked their
attacks easily enough, but they still did a lot of damage to the tunnel.
The fake L’Arc held
his hand out the wall, and the rocks there instantly transformed into a fresh scythe
in his hand.
That could be a
problem.
“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!”
Ost finished the
incantation, and a large semi-transparent black sphere shot through the air and
slammed into the enemies.
“. . . ?!”
L’Arc and Glass’s
mimicked versions suddenly discovered that they couldn’t move well. They
stumbled and fell. It looked as though they were being sucked toward the ground.
Raphtalia was in
the gravity field too, but she was completely unaffected by it.
I could only use
restorative and supportive magic, so that might be why I thought of things in
these terms, but was it supposed to be an interference spell? It would be really
terrible if someone cast that spell on me.
In the games that
I’d played, the spells that lowered enemy’s stats or afflicted them with
ailments were always a little . . . disappointing. Of course, it depended on
the game. There were plenty of games where even support spells seemed mostly
useless. But in a serious battle, where a split second could be the difference
between life and death, these status ailment spells were never much use at all.
They didn’t do any real damage on their own.
“Hyaaa!” Raphtalia
rushed at the fake Glass and plunged the glowing blade of her magic sword deep
into her chest.
“Ying-Yang Sword!”
A gushing sound ran
through the tunnel as Raphtalia plunged her other sword deep into the heart of
the mimicked Glass, who . . . who lost the ability to maintain her shape.
It was disgusting
to see. The human form warped and melted. Eyeballs opened where the stomach
should have been, and the legs grew to an absurd size. They were so large they
were filling the tunnel!
Raphtalia realized
that she hadn’t killed it. She pulled her sword out and ran back to where I
stood.
“There’s no room to
fight.”
“I know.”
My mind raced to
find a way out of the ever-worsening situation. The eyeballs in the stomach of
what used to be the fake Glass opened. They were filled with glowing red light.
It looked like they were about to start shooting heat beams at us in that
narrow tunnel!
Goosebumps ran up
my arms. The attack would be powerful. I could feel it in the air. I could
probably block it, but I was afraid to think of what it would do to the tunnel.
The air around the monster began to glow red, too. It was like the caves
themselves were lending their power to it.
“Shield Hero! Watch
out!” Ost shouted.
“I know! It sure
looks like it’s charging up for its strongest attack!”
Dodging it wasn’t
going to help. It was going to fire a heat beam straight down the tunnel, so
there would be no way to run from it. Things might have been different if there
were a sharp turn in the tunnel, but unfortunately, it was mostly straight.
Maybe we could dodge it, but I could tell the beam would be very thick and
wide.
The morphing
creature that used to look like Glass was growing large enough to fill the
tunnel itself, and it was covered in glowing eyes.
“. . . !”
The fake L’Arc spun
his scythe and threw it at me.
I stopped it with
my shield, which I thought would be good enough. But I was wrong. The scythe
suddenly sprouted hands that grabbed a hold of the shield.
These attacks were
getting annoying.
Then the scythe
shot roots into the ground and anchored itself to the floor. It could only mean
one thing. The scythe was trying to hold me in place so that the heat beam
could finish me.
I quickly switched
to a different shield.
I’d been using the
Soul Eater Shield since the battle with the Spirit Tortoise, but its attributes
clearly weren’t giving us any advantage over the mimicked forms of L’Arc and
Glass. So I decided to switch to the Whale Magic Core Shield, which had
slightly better stats than the Soul Eater Shield, as well as water-aligned
attributes.
Whale Magic Core Shield (awakened) +6 45/45 SR
abilities unlocked; equip bonus; skill “bubble
shield,” naval combat 2
special effect: water attribute: heat beam
shield (medium), magic assistance, magic recovery (small), underwater time
extensions
mastery level: 70
item enchantment level 6: fire resistance up
15%
karma penguin familiar spirit: water
attribute: equipment ability up
status enchantment magic defense +25
The surface of the
shield was round, polished, and difficult to get a grip on. As expected, the
scythe monster’s grip on it loosened.
“Raphtalia!”
“I’m on it!”
The fake Glass
monstrosity was ready. It fired the powerful heat beam straight through the
fake L’Arc monster and straight at us.
“Air Strike Shield!
Second Shield! Dritte Shield!”
Three shields
appeared in the air, stacked one in front of the other.
Just before the
shields blocked my view, I saw the heat beam vaporize the fake L’Arc in a
flash. Because it looked like someone I sort of knew, it made me more upset
than I would have expected.
Then I couldn’t
see. I could hear the heat beam beating against the floating shields. It seemed
to go on forever. I couldn’t believe the monster could maintain an attack like
that for so long. The Air Strike Shield had already run out of time. Soon
Second Shield and Dritte Shield would disappear, too. Granted, the Air Strike
Shield’s effective time wasn’t particularly long. I ran up to peek out between
the shields, and it didn’t look good.
The disgusting
beast that used to look like Glass was still firing its heat beam, and it
didn’t show signs of stopping anytime soon.
If this were a
game, the amount of time it could use a heat beam would be limited. Even
science fiction games that had heat beam weapons had a time limit on the
attack. But this wasn’t a game, and it looked like this monster could maintain
a dense, powerful heat beam for as long as it wanted.
I turned to see how
things were looking behind me.
Raphtalia, the
queen, Ost, and Rishia . . . Which one of them had a skill that stood a chance
of killing the monster? Raphtalia? She’d have to get up close. As for magic
users, the queen or Ost might stand a chance. The queen could attack directly
with her magic, which made her the clear favorite. Ost’s magic was interesting
but weird, and as for Rishia . . . Sorry, but she wouldn’t stand a chance.
“Mr. Naofumi! What
should we do?”
“It won’t kill us.
The problem is how do we kill that thing before it brings the ceiling down on
us? And if we can’t kill it, how do we escape?”
I could hold the
shield for a while. Thanks to the water attribute, the heat beam didn’t affect
it too much. Raphtalia stood by me and extended the tip of her sword outside of
the protective range of the shield. There was a loud sizzling sound, and the blade
started to smoke.
“Think you can make
it?”
Raphtalia was using
the Usauni Sword, the one that the old guy from the weapon shop had worked on.
If she messed up somehow and broke the sword, it would significantly affect her
ability to fight from this point on.
“I think . . . yes.
I think it will be okay.”
“Good.”
“Should I try to
attack with a spell?”
“Do all you can.”
“Very well,” the
queen said and started to chant a spell.
Damn. I was sure I
could hold out, but the heat beam started to intensify. I saw cracks form in
the ceiling. It would only be a matter of time before it collapsed.
“Icicle Sword!” the
queen shouted. She placed her hand on the backside of my shield, and a blade of
ice grew out of the front and shot forward like a bullet.
It didn’t make it
far before evaporating in a puff of steam.
“That didn’t work.
What about you, Ost?”
It didn’t matter if
she used gravity to slow the enemy down. She could probably use normal earth
magic too—but if she threw a boulder at the thing, it would just end up vaporized
like the Icicle Sword.
“Feh . . .”
“It’s fine. I don’t
expect anything from you.”
“Fehhhh . . .”
Ugh. I was trying
to tell her that I didn’t expect her to have some special spell to get us out
of there. Calm down already, jeez.
“There’s only one option
left. The Air Strike Shield has already disappeared, so we just need to get up
there, next to the monster. When we get there, Raphtalia, it’s up to you. Kill
it with one hit.”
“Understood.”
We should have just
gone with this plan from the beginning.
“Air Strike
Shield!” I shouted. The shield appeared right in front of the monster. That
would render its attack mostly useless while the shield remained in place. I
angled it slightly downward. That sent the beam down toward the ground—I’d
hoped that would protect the integrity of the ceiling.
We ran forward. I
couldn’t help but imagine the beam deflecting and vaporizing my feet. That was
a situation I would rather avoid.
“Shooting Star
Shield! Let’s go!”
I made sure that we
were inside the barrier—I didn’t want to lose my legs—and we made our way up to
the monster. When we got there, Raphtalia flipped her sword, readied the
attack, and brought it down hard on the monster’s head.
“. . . ?!”
The writhing mass
that had once looked like Glass split in two. But that wasn’t the end of it.
The two pieces started twitching and it looked like they were about to
regenerate their lost halves.
“I, the source of
all strength, command you! Read and comprehend all that is under the sun, and
shoot them through with diamond spikes!”
“Drifa Diamond
Missile!”
A huge ball of
burning flames shot from the queen’s hands, and a large diamond spike shot from
Ost’s. The two attacks slammed into the two halves of the monster where it
writhed on the ground.
“. . . ?!”
The attacks hit before
the pieces could regenerate. One went up in flames, and the other was stuck to
the ground with diamond spikes. They stopped moving.
“Whew. I think that
does it. Is everyone okay?”
“I’m alright.”
“I do not appear to
be harmed.”
“I’m . . . fine.”
“Feh . . .”
I’d done all I
could to protect them, but . . . I looked to where the monster had once stood.
The tunnel had
completely collapsed around it, and we faced a dead end.
The tunnel itself
was quiet. There were no installation-type eyeballs blinking at us from the
walls. “Guess we need to find a detour. Who knows when we’re going to run into
Glass again?”
“What were they
doing here?”
“Who knows? Maybe
they’re behind this whole thing.”
Ost looked angry.
Her hand curled into a fist. I couldn’t blame her. In a way, it was their fault
that she hadn’t been able to carry out her original plan.
“And yet . . . Mr.
Naofumi? Don’t you think they were acting a little strange?”
“Yeah, I do.”
It’s not like I
wanted to be friends with them or anything. From how things stood, it sure
looked like there was a good chance that they were behind all of this misery.
But I couldn’t deny that they had been acting strangely.
Oh well. There was
no use in speculating. We’d have to find out the truth the next time we saw
them.
“Feh . . .”
“Whining again? I
swear, Rishia . . .”
She really was
useless—that’s what I really wanted to say, but I didn’t. She seemed to know
what I meant anyway, because she just stood there sniffling. Maybe, if she
realized how powerless she was, it would encourage her to do the work necessary
to get stronger. Maybe.
“It’s alright.
You’ll prove yourself someday,” Ost said kindly.
“Right . . .”
Rishia sniffled. They could sit there and comfort each other all day for all I
cared.
“Time to back up
and find another way out of here.”
The search was back
on.
After wandering
through the tunnels for a while longer, we found ourselves at the exit facing
the temple. We did not run into Glass or L’Arc on the way.
The town around the
temple had been utterly destroyed. Aside from parts of the temple and its
surrounding buildings, I couldn’t find any standing structures. Everything else
had been destroyed by the emergence of the towering spikes.
“This is . . .”
The temple before
us did not look like the same building we’d found the last time we climbed up
on the shell.
“It is another
temple. They must have been connected by the Spirit Tortoise cave.”
“I guess so.”
“I suggest we take
a look around,” the queen said, walking toward the half-ruined temple grounds.
Ost and Rishia went with her.
“From the way
things look, the temple we found the last time must have been completely
destroyed when the Spirit Tortoise reawakened.”
The sketch had been
a rubbing of an inscription on the wall. But there wasn’t anything left
standing that resembled it. There were only piles of debris.
“You mean the
pillar? Or the writing we found on the wall of the other temple?”
“That writing
seemed to be based on the inscription from the stone pillar. The ancient heroes
must have referenced the pillar to make it. The pillar itself was famous. The
legends speak of others as well, but . . .”
But they had all
been reduced to piles of rubble.
I remembered the
message we’d found. A hero named Keichi had written it.
“Can I see that?”
“Of course. We will
search through all this to see if there isn’t something that you can read, Mr.
Iwatani. Everyone, remember, something that might just look like a pattern or a
design to you may actually be the writing of the heroes. Keep your wits about
you.”
We started to look
through the pieces of the stone pillar. Every few minutes, the air filled with
the splitting sound of spikes launching into the air. In the distance, I
sometimes caught sight of Fitoria jumping to avoid them. It was a surreal sight
to behold.
The pieces of stone
were covered in elementary drawings that seemed to depict the Spirit Tortoise,
along with some writing. But the pieces were mostly too small to contain any
useful information.
“Can you read it?”
“How does it look?”
I sat there in the
rubble trying to arrange the pieces like a jigsaw puzzle, but the destruction
was so complete that it was nearly impossible to assemble a large enough
section to make out anything of value.
“I found
something!”
Rishia shouted. She
was holding a piece of the stone pillar over her head.
Yes! It was large
enough that I could make out some of the words on it.
Goal is . . . Waves
. . . World . . . Prevent . . . That was the same part that the sketch had
contained.
With the real
article in my hand, I was able to make out two more words: head and heart.
Think! What did Keichi’s writing say?
Something about the
brain . . . about how to kill the monster. It was so degraded I couldn’t make
out much more.
But it had said how
to kill, not how to imprison.
That had to mean
that someone knew how to kill it before they built the temple. The knowledge
had existed for hundreds of years. And even though they knew that, they decided
to seal it away—to imprison it.
But why?
Even Ost said that
she didn’t understand.
I guess it was sort
of obvious. If she were part of the Spirit Tortoise, she’d probably be the last
person to know about a special way to kill it.
I couldn’t figure
it out. Time to move on. There was only so much I could hope to learn from one sentence.
Head, heart . . .
those words had only shown up here.
I had one idea, but
it was like something you’d find in a game or a manga. I had no idea if it
would actually work.
“Heh . . . It can’t
be.”
“Mr. Naofumi! Have
you figured it out?”
In a flash,
everyone crowded around me.
“Not really. It’s
so broken I can’t read it. To read it, we’d have to try and reassemble the
whole thing. It’s all so old we’re likely to never figure it out. But to guess
from the words we have here . . .”
Everyone nodded and
listened closely.
“It makes me think
that we might be able to kill it, if we destroy the head and the heart at the
same time. That’s the only idea I have.”
“. . .”
Raphtalia looked
more confused than encouraged. The queen snapped open her fan and placed it
over her mouth while she considered what I said. “Do you think it will work?”
“I don’t know.”
“Then let us keep
it as a backup option, in case the imprisoning doesn’t work.”
Ost hadn’t said
anything. She looked concerned.
“What is it?”
“I don’t know. But for
some reason, I feel like the Shield Hero’s conjecture is correct.”
“But?”
“. . . But I don’t
think that he’s solved the entire puzzle.”
“You mean there
might be another place we have to destroy?”
If so, we’d never
pull it off. It would mean that we’d have to destroy everything we found inside
the tortoise’s body in hopes that it was the right thing. All the organs, the
magic parts, and maybe even its soul. We wouldn’t know that we had destroyed
the right parts until the Spirit Tortoise was dead.
“Let’s do what we
can!” Rishia said, attempting to cheer up Ost.
“You’re right. We
have to kill my true body as soon as possible!”
She was right.
There was no telling how much longer Fitoria could hold out. We decided to head
back to the chamber where the coalition army was waiting.
On my way back, I
realized that there was a good chance Glass and the others had run into the
waiting troops. I hoped that wasn’t the case. They’d said that their goal was
to kill the heroes, but if they were controlling the Spirit Tortoise and
killing swaths of the population indiscriminately, there’s no telling what they
were capable of. So we hurried back to the troops, quickly dispatching any
familiars we encountered on the way.
Luckily, we found
the troops where we’d left them, safe and sound.
“Mr. Iwatani! Your
majesty!”
“Holy saint!”
“Shield Hero!”
Eclair, the old
lady, and the troops were thrilled to see us return.
Filo and the
shadows still hadn’t returned from their search. If Glass and the others were
still in the tunnels, then I would feel better to have everyone back together.
“What did you
find?” Eclair asked. She looked very eager.
“The heroes’
inscription was so damaged that I couldn’t read it. But the small portion that
I was able to read gave me an idea.”
The troops cheered
when they heard that.
I told them about
the plan to destroy the head and the heart at the same time. They weren’t as
excited when they heard the details. I couldn’t blame them. Who knew if it
would actually work? And besides, we didn’t even know where the heart was.
“Also . . . We ran
into Glass—the enemy from the waves—on the way to the temple. I think she might
be behind all of this.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah. But they
were acting a little strange, almost like they were worried. So I’m not sure
they are really responsible.” It was a possibility that I couldn’t ignore, but
I wasn’t confident it was true. Not yet. They must have been related to all of
this somehow, but I didn’t know for sure how. Anyway, if they were behind all
of this, we were sure to see them again soon—like right in front of the heart.
They would try to
stop us from killing the tortoise. So if they were hiding, they would
eventually show themselves. The worst-case scenario would be if they attacked
the troops and I wasn’t there to protect them.
There was no point
in worrying about it. We just had to be careful. If I stayed there to protect
the troops, we’d never find the heart. And yet of course I didn’t want them to
show up when I was somewhere else. There was no good option. They really knew
what they were doing.
I was used to it.
Nothing had been easy for me since the day I found myself in this world. Oh
well! You can’t catch a tiger without going to its den, as they say.
“So put whoever is
strongest in charge of protecting the troops. We’re going to join the search
for the heart.”
“Yes, sir!”
Eclair, the old
lady, and the troops all snapped to attention.
I turned to the
queen. “You should stay and command the troops.”
“Very well. If
anything happens, I will send a shadow to inform you, Mr. Iwatani.”
“Good. You too,
Rishia. Honestly, I’m a little worried about it, but I’m counting on you.”
“I know! I’ll do my
best!”
With the queen,
Eclair, the old lady, and Rishia there, I hoped they could hold their own for a
while. If Glass and the others showed up, we’d just have to hurry back to meet
them.
“I’m baaaack! It
was a dead end!”
“We have returned,”
said a shadow.
Filo and the
shadows came jogging into the chamber. They didn’t bring any good news. They
reported on the paths they’d investigated, and we started the search again.
“I guess it’s good
that the queen had an old map of the caves, but . . .” I sighed. If everything
had changed since they made the map, what good was it? At least we had Ost,
whose intuitions had generally been proving themselves accurate. But she wasn’t
any help in the search for the heart. She led us to a number of dead ends.
We made notes on
the map as we walked through the tunnels, but we weren’t any closer to finding
the heart.
“Hm . . .”
We ran into
familiars sometimes, but Raphtalia and Filo got rid of them without any
trouble. Every time we hit a dead end, we would trek back to the main chamber
and check on the troops there. We had to make the trip back to the chamber
plenty of times.
According the
troops, familiars came to attack them while we were gone, but Rishia took the
initiative and killed them. I don’t know how she could do that with such low
stats, but I assumed it was because of the Filo kigurumi.
“Dammit.”
We kept wandering
back and forth, and I became more and more nervous, thinking that Fitoria
couldn’t fight the tortoise forever. Besides, if the tortoise hadn’t been
artificially created, shouldn’t the walls have been made of flesh or something?
What was the
problem? We couldn’t even find the entrance. What if we were in the wrong cave?
The map we had wasn’t accurate anymore, but the tunnels didn’t seem to lead
deeper underground at all. The map indicated that we should be at the lowest
levels.
“Shield Hero.” A
shadow appeared and updated the map. From the way it looked, the entire cave
was nearly mapped. Why hadn’t we seen Glass or the others yet? I followed the
sprawling lines on the map and was shocked by what I saw.
Every path was a
dead end.
“What is going on
here? Are the legends wrong?”
“I do not know. We
were zure to zearch for hidden passages.”
“Hey, master!” Filo
shouted. She was kicking at the ground. Watching her, Ost seemed to remember
something. I decided to sit back and see what happened. It looked like Filo
might have found a path that would take us further underground.
“Should we make
another pass? Or do we need to start digging?” If we had to dig, we were going
to need tools—but hey, I had access to digging skills.
“Hey.”
“We will check with
the army to zee what tools they have.”
“Hey!!”
“What is it?” Filo
was shouting to get my attention, so I looked over at her.
“Dontcha think the
floor here is kind of . . . weird?” Filo asked as she kicked at the ground.
I had checked the
area to make sure there wasn’t a trap door, but nothing had sounded hollow.
Ost’s eyes grew
wide and she came running over to me, shouting, “Shield Hero! Shield Hero!”
I guess there
really was a trap door. But Filo still hadn’t said anything else, and she
wasn’t answering us. I couldn’t figure it out.
“It’s alive.”
“Yeah, well, we are
in a cave on the back of a giant monster. Of course it’s alive.”
Ost looked at me
and nodded.
. . . ?
“That’s not what I
mean!” Filo shouted and kicked the floor hard—and the whole thing wobbled and
flexed.
“Huh?”
There was a very
strange sound echoing through the tunnel.
“This is one of the
mimicked familiars.”
“What? You mean the
same kind of monster that pretended to look like Glass is right here,
pretending to be the floor?”
“Yes.”
“Really? I guess
we’ll just have to kill it then,” I said. I wasn’t sure how we were supposed to
attack a monster that was hiding in the ground. We had to find a way. Judging
from what we’d seen of the cave system, we were going to have to find a way to
get deeper underground if we wanted to find the heart.
We could hack our
way through—but there was no telling how long that might take. If only there
was an efficient way to punch a hole through it. I scratched my chin, and then
I remembered that I had once seen a recipe in a book for acid water. I’d used
the shield to try out the recipe, so I had a bottle. With any luck it would
work like the weed killer we used on the bioplants. I decided to try it.
If only Ren or
Motoyasu were there. Their offensive skills would have come in handy.
“Filo, Ost—stand
back.”
“Okay!”
I pulled a bottle
of the acid water from my shield and gave it to Raphtalia.
“Pour this on the
monster. If I do it, it might trigger a counter-attack.”
“Alright,” she
said, taking the bottle and pouring its contents out on the ground.
“. . . !”
The floor started
to wiggle, writhe, and melt.
And there, just
beneath the ground, was a monster—and it wasn’t just the Spirit Tortoise’s
back. It was puffy and sticky, like a rice cake. It looked at us through
enormous eyes, and its back was covered with a giant shell.
“I zee. It really
iz one of the mimicking familiarz. We never would have found thiz.”
“How could you
have? It was hibernating. I never would have spotted it.”
We never would have
found it without Filo. If the shadows couldn’t find the monster, that proved how
good at hiding it was. But was it really the same kind of beast that had
mimicked the appearance of Glass and the others?
“Let’s kill it!”
“Okay!”
“Yes!”
“I will azzist
you!”
Everyone jumped
forward and killed the beast. When it died, it shrunk up like a slug sprinkled
with salt before vanishing in a puff of smoke.
“Zo the path
forward waz hidden here.”
When the monster
vanished, it was clear that it had been blocking the entrance to a tunnel that
led further underground.
If the path had
been hidden so thoroughly, then how many of the other dead-end paths we’d found
had actually contained mimic monsters? There was no point in worrying about
it—we had to continue down this path.
“Let’s go.”
Everyone nodded and
followed me down the new tunnel.
It wasn’t long
before the air and the texture of the walls began to change. It seemed to be
getting warmer too. Eventually, the rock walls vanished and were replaced with
pulsing walls of flesh.
“This is pretty
creepy.”
“I agree. It’s
disgusting.”
“It feels like
being inside my mouth!” Filo shouted. She really had a way with words.
“It looks like
we’re finally inside the tortoise’s body.”
“It certainly does
seem that way.”
The ceiling was
still made of rock. Things were going to start getting serious. The floor
beneath my feet was soft, and I could feel it pulsing with a heartbeat.
First things
first—we had to find the heart. I tried to think of a plan, when a white
bulbous monster came flying at us. It looked like a blood platelet I’d seen
under a microscope once.
I blocked it with
Shooting Star Shield, and then Raphtalia and Filo jumped forward to kill it.
From what I could tell, the tortoise’s immune system was deploying familiars at
us.
“If there are more
of these, it’s going to be hard to get all the troops down here.”
From time to time
we passed puffy maggot-like monsters that wriggled on the ground. We sprinkled
them with acid when we passed by. There were a lot of familiars in the tunnel.
I hoped that meant we were getting closer to the heart and that they were there
to protect it. The only thing that would complete the picture would be Glass
and L’Arc. If we found them standing in front of the heart, arms crossed,
wouldn’t that just be great?
If that happened,
what were we supposed to do? The army troops wouldn’t stand a chance against
enemies like that. We’d have to deal with the enemy first and then swing back
to get the troops.
Ost suddenly raised
her head. She looked worried.
“What is it?”
“I . . .”
She was acting
strange. I stared at her to see what the problem was, and I saw the cursed
burns on her hand disappearing before my eyes.
“What the . . .”
“I am a Spirit
Tortoise familiar, too. As we approach the heart, my regenerative abilities are
improving.”
“How nice for you.”
“My magic power is
returning as well.”
I hoped that Ost’s
improving fortunes would help us in the battles to come.
“Zhould I return to
inform the troops of our dizcovery?”
“Not yet. We
haven’t found the heart yet. Let’s hold off on telling them until we can be
sure we’re going the right way.”
“Underztood.”
A little further
down the path, we came to a curtain of red sinews blocking the way forward. I’d
seen this sort of gimmick in games before. You normally had to cut the right
one to move on. I looked over at Ost for a hint, but she shook her head. I
guess I couldn’t expect her to know everything about the inside of her true
body. I didn’t really know what happened inside of my own body, after all.
You can cook food
in a microwave without knowing how the microwave works—if you know what I mean.
So of course, she didn’t know. I shouldn’t have expected her to.
“Raphtalia, cut
that one.”
“Oh, alright.” She
swung her sword and sliced through one of the sinews.
The fleshy wall
split and opened, leading to another path.
“What a lucky
choize you’ve made!”
“I just had a
feeling. I’ve seen this sort of thing before.”
“Very imprezzive.”
We continued down
the tunnel, only to arrive at a similar setup, only this time the sinews were
blue. If we cut them, we’d probably get a new path forward, just like last time.
“Raphtalia.”
“Yes!”
She sliced through
the sinew just like before. The path ahead of us opened up, but the path we’d
come from closed again, and the red sinews grew back. What a pain. To make
matters worse, when we cut the sinews it seemed to activate the immune system.
Hordes of the immune system monsters flooded the tunnel.
If they didn’t let
up soon, we’d have a tough time making any progress.
I could hear a loud
pulsing heartbeat coming from the other side of a door, and a cord of blue
sinews grew nearby. Raphtalia cut them.
But this time, the
door ahead of us seemed to block itself further, and the door behind us
reopened. I was starting to get irritated. If we didn’t find the right sinew to
cut, we would never find the heart.
“Shield Hero,” Ost
said, stepping forward and raising her hand.
“What?”
“Leave this to me.”
“You can do
something about this?”
“Yes. Just a
minute.”
She held her hand
out to the closed door of flesh, and it suddenly started to twitch in spasms.
Finally, it opened.
“Wow . . .”
A part of me wished
she had done that sooner, but I decided to assume that she had just figured out
how to do it.
“. . . ?!”
The room was filled
with a loud pulsing. The path must have led to the heart chamber! But Ost’s
power over the door began to wane, and the door of flesh strained to release
itself.
“Let’s go!”
“Yes!”
We dashed through
the door and moved on.
Soon we came to a
knot of white sinews, and when we cut them, the path behind us opened. The
sinews were capable of regeneration. It took about 30 seconds for them to grow
back. Ha! I guess we just had to hack our way through.
“Shadow. We might
need you to focus on keeping the paths open.”
“Underztood. Should
I ztart now?”
“Not yet. In a
little while, if we run into Glass, you separate from us and keep your
distance.”
“Underztood.”
Finally, we came
upon a strange artificial object that seemed remarkably out of place. It was a
dragon hourglass, and it was filled with blue sand. It was also smaller than
the giant hourglass back in Melromarc. It was very strange to see the
elaborately designed hourglass sitting there inside of the Spirit Tortoise’s
body.
“A dragon
hourglass?”
“It’s blue.”
“That iz how it
appearz.”
“Where’s all the
sand?” Filo asked. She was right; it looked nearly empty, like it was only 20%
filled.
“This is . . .” Ost
muttered to herself while she approached the hourglass.
“This is filled
with the soul energy of those who became sacrifices to the Spirit Tortoise.
When this hourglass is filled, the Spirit Tortoise can create the barrier that
protects the world.”
“. . .”
So we were looking
at the source of the Spirit Tortoise’s energy?
“So? Where’s the
person that is supposed to have control of the tortoise?”
“I believe we may
find them in the core. This is only a projection of the true hourglass, which
is held elsewhere.”
“What? Do you know
where it is?”
“Yes. Destroying
the head and heart will only stop the movement of the beast. After that . . .”
The story was
getting more and more complicated.
What was all this
about a core? Is that were we’d find Glass and the others?
There was a
familiar symbol, not from this world, written on the hourglass: 7.
Ost had explained
that before. She said that it meant the power level was equal to the seventh
wave. I reached out to touch it, but my hand slipped right through the glass,
unable to make contact with anything. It was definitely different from the
dragon hourglasses back in Melromarc.
“I guess there’s
nothing for us to do here. Time to move on.”
“Alright!”
“We can return to
inveztigate thiz later.”
“Great. I guess we
need to find this ‘core’ thing now.”
“Yes. If we cannot
free the tortoise from whoever is controlling it, these people will have died
in vain,” Ost said, hard and determined.
We walked past the
hourglass and found the heart a bit further down the tunnel.
It stood more than
six meters tall and was divided into two colors. Each side had an eyeball.
“So this is the
heart.”
Glass was nowhere
to be seen. I guess we would be likely to find them at this ‘core’ that Ost was
talking about.
“It zeems to be the
heart. It is very ominous indeed.”
This was what we
had to imprison.
The eyes looked at
me when I spoke, and they didn’t look very welcoming. Sure enough, a second
later and they were shooting heat beams at us. I blocked them with Shooting Star
Shield.
“. . . !”
The eyes opened
even wider and started to shake. Suddenly, the room was flooded with familiars.
I had no idea where they came from. I got the unsettling feeling that the heart
was capable of summoning an infinite amount of them.
It wasn’t going to
be an easy fight. We’d left all the troops back in the chamber, and we were
supposed to be just investigating now. So we didn’t need to fight it yet.
“Let’s try to
weaken it a bit. Shadows, you stay back. Ost, back us up.”
“Yes!”
“Okay!”
“Underztood.”
“I’ll do all I can
to weaken it.”
Filo and Raphtalia
jumped out from behind my force field and sprinted straight at the heart.
“Zweite Aura!” I
shouted, casting the spell on both of them. It dramatically improved all of
their stats.
“Ying-Yang Sword!”
“Puchikuikku!”
They each attacked
one of the eyes.
“. . . !”
The heart freaked
out. The whole chamber shook violently.
Suddenly, a huge
mandala-like magic pattern appeared on the floor around the heart. It was
preparing to do something drastic.
“Raphtalia! Filo!
Get back!”
Ost was behind us,
fending off the familiars. I couldn’t ask her for anything.
“Understood.”
“Okay!”
Both of them ducked
back into the force field and rushed to get behind my shield so they could
prepare their next attacks.
The heart formed a
black ball of magic and shot it straight at us. When I blocked it, the force
field shattered with a loud crack!
The black ball
slammed into my shield, and the light around me bent and warped.
My body suddenly
felt very heavy! It must have been that gravity type of magic that Ost was fond
of. I felt heavier and more tired than I ever had, but my defense ability was
unaffected, and I could still bear it.
“Hyaaaaa!” I
shouted, shoving the shield to the right and sending the ball careening through
the tunnel.
The heart wasn’t
using any of the super powerful attacks that the tortoise used outside. Of
course it wouldn’t be able to—not without hurting itself. That was good news. I
could use the Whale Core Shield to mediate the effects of the heat beams.
I was mulling over
my strategy when I noticed a bunch of the clumpy white monsters crawling over
the heart. The whole surface was nearly covered with them when, bam, the clumps exploded out from the heart to cover the
whole room.
“Shooting Star
Shield!”
“Raphtalia, Filo!
Can you kill the heart?!”
“I can try!”
“Yup!”
Both of them
started to charge up their most powerful attacks. While we waited, I protected
them and Ost used her powers to hold off all the familiar monsters. Whenever
there was a space, she sent an attack spell flying to buy us more time.
Raphtalia’s tail
puffed up. Filo looked ready, too. Then Raphtalia’s sword burst into light
while Filo crossed her arms in front of her.
“Filo! Can you talk
to Fitoria?”
I had an idea. It
was time to act on my theory. If we prioritized the attack, we might be able to
put an end to all this. Fitoria could crush the head at the same time that we
killed the heart.
“Huh? Um . . .
yeah, I can talk to her.”
“Then let’s attack
at the same time.”
“Okay! Fitoria says
she understands!”
“Then let’s do it!
Maybe it will work!”
I turned to face
the heart and focus.
“Herculean
Strength!” Ost cast support magic on both Raphtalia and Filo. Hopefully, they
would be powerful enough. If it didn’t work, I’d have no choice but to use the
Shield of Wrath.
“Directional . . .”
Raphtalia crouched down low and ran for the heart.
Filo followed her.
“Spiral Kick!”
She turned into a
ray of light and shot herself straight into the heart.
The heart tried to
defend itself. A force field appeared and stretched from the ceiling to the
floor, and Filo’s attack ricocheted off of it. But Raphtalia was right behind
her, swinging her sword. The force field exploded with the sound of shattering
glass.
“Sword of Heaven!”
Her sword flashed
with spinning, complex Taoist-like patterns in its wake.
With a great
gushing sound, Filo’s attack punched a hole in the heart. Before blood could
spray from it, Raphtalia brought her sword back around and sliced deep into the
flesh.
The heart’s eyes
shot open wide, and the heart split in two—
“. . . !”
Behind me, I head
Ost gasp. I turned to see her clutching her chest in pain.
“Are you okay!?”
“Yes . . . I’m
fine. But that is not good enough.”
“You . . .”
“To kill my true
body is to kill me.”
She had done all of
this, knowing that she would die if we were successful. It must have taken an
unbelievable amount of courage to do what she’d done. I don’t think I could
have done it.
Why was the world
worth protecting? I wasn’t going to ask that now. I could see how fervently she
was committed to saving as many people as she could, even if it meant giving up
everything she had. She was nothing like the ex-princess Bitch. Bitch would
sacrifice anyone to get what she wanted.
Ost would do
anything for the sake of the future. She thought her very life existed to
safeguard the world for others. I certainly didn’t want to die for the sake of
the world. No, thank you. But Ost’s goal was that exact thing: to sacrifice
herself for the good of everyone else.
I couldn’t help but
respect that.
She helped us so
much in such a short amount of time. She’d put our needs ahead of her own from
the minute we met, and she’d earned my trust.
Killing the Spirit
Tortoise would mean killing Ost. But that was what she wanted. Just like
always, this world forced me into the worse situations imaginable. I turned to
face the heart.
“Filo!” I shouted
as Filo came around after finishing her attack. “Did Fitoria mess it up?!”
Had I been wrong?
“She says she
crushed the head!”
“. . .”
Then it must not
have worked. Either that or the monster had another heart? Maybe it was the
core that Ost had mentioned. Maybe we needed to crush the core too.
A loud sound echoed
through the walls. I assumed it was the sound of the head falling.
But Ost was still
standing.
Thump. Thump.
Thump.
Already
regenerated, the heart resumed its shape.
“Dammit. We'd
better retreat. My theory was wrong, so we better get the troops down here.”
“It was just a
feeling, but I felt a slight energy flow. The sealing spell might be necessary
to defeat my true form.”
“Really?”
“. . .”
She fell silent.
She must not have had the confidence to say for sure.
We had no choice
but to try.
“Got it. Filo,
we’re falling back!”
“Okay!”
“Shadow, I’m going
to need your help. Just like we talked about.” It was going to be a rough
battle, but the shadow nodded as if he’d been waiting for it. “Underztood!”
“Sorry.”
“It iz my job.”
We retreated.
Running back down the tunnel, we left the heart behind.
We had no choice
but to try.
“Got it. Filo,
we’re falling back!”
“Okay!”
“Shadow, I’m going
to need your help. Just like we talked about.” It was going to be a rough
battle, but the shadow nodded as if he’d been waiting for it. “Underztood!”
“Sorry.”
“It iz my job.”
We retreated.
Running back down the tunnel, we left the heart behind.
“Are you alright?!”
Rishia came running over to meet us with the troops.
“We found the
heart.”
“Oh!” the troops
exclaimed in unison.
They hadn’t yet
realized the problem. How were we supposed to get them to it?
We weren’t going to
have much luck if we just tried to march them down the tunnel.
“How are you all
holding up back here?”
“Monsters attacked
nine times while you were away. There have been a few casualties.”
“The troops will
have to come with us. The monsters’ attacks are only going to get stronger, so
make sure you’re prepared for that. I can’t protect everyone all of the time.
I’ll do what I can, but make sure you can protect yourselves!”
The group of troops
cheered and nodded.
Now, although their
strength didn’t exactly fill me with confidence, I had to take them down to
battle the heart. How many of them was I about to lose?
A variety of
anxieties ran through my mind as I led the troops toward the underground tunnel
we’d found earlier. On the way there, I told them about how the heart had
attacked us and about the different attacks it had used. I told them that I
would use Shooting Star Shield, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to defend
them and that I wanted them to wait for a break in the barrage before they
tried to counter-attack.
“I wouldn’t have
expected any less from you, Shield Hero. Thank you for planning this strategy
to protect as many of us as possible.”
“Yeah, well . . .”
If I was going to
protect them, I had to assume that the heart would retaliate with stronger
attacks than I had yet seen. I just wanted to make sure they were prepared to
face it.
“There were also a
lot of white clumps that seemed to be monsters, too. We didn’t have time to
figure out how they attack, so be on the lookout.”
“Roger!” the troops
shouted.
We ran into plenty
of familiars on the way, but we were able to handle them with the combined
strength of Raphtalia, Filo, Ost, Eclair, the old lady, Rishia, and the queen
and her troops.
When we’d progressed
to the point that the walls of stone were replaced with pulsing flesh, the
troops were noticeably repulsed. And when the sound of the thumping became more
obvious, they all grew grave and serious.
We made it to the
series of doors that opened and closed with red and blue sinews. The troops
never really figured out what they were supposed to do about the doors, but we
pressed on and made it through anyway. Raphtalia and Filo watched the rear of
the line and defended it from any monsters that attacked from behind.
The biggest problem
we ran into was when the parasite-like monsters suddenly appeared by tearing
through the walls of flesh. They were on us in a flash, and we weren’t able to
respond as quickly as I would have liked. We lost a few troops, and the morale
of the survivors suffered for it.
A terrible fate
awaited anyone caught in one of the immune system’s monster attacks. People
were sucked up and melted down right before their friends’ eyes. Some of the
troops with weaker stomachs threw up when they saw it.
“Keep moving! If
you stop here, you’ll end up as feed for these things! Your fallen friends
wouldn’t want that!”
I protected the
troops while Raphtalia and Filo took care of the monsters.
Finally, we made it
to the last door, where I’d posted a shadow on the other side.
“Hey!” I shouted,
and the door opened. “Have any trouble while we were gone?”
“If I had, I
couldn’t have opened thiz door for you.”
“Good point.”
They were very good
at hiding and hadn’t gotten into any trouble while we were gone.
“Alright, listen
up! The heart is just over there. Are you ready to cast the sealing spell?”
“Yes. But you’ll
have to weaken the heart if the spell is to be effective.”
I guess that made
sense. Raphtalia and Filo were strong enough to have defeated it once before,
and now we had more people with us. I didn’t expect too much trouble. And with
Rishia, the queen, and all the troops working on the spell, I felt like it had
a chance of working.
“Once we begin the
incantation, it will take a little while until the spell can be cast.”
“I’ll keep the
heart busy.”
Another battle of
attrition. How wonderful.
“Is there any way
you can prepare for the spell ahead of time?”
“Unfortunately not.
The spell is only effective over a certain range, and we are not able to move
once we begin the incantation.”
So we had no
choice. Fine—I had my shield, and this is what it was made for. “I’ll protect
the troops while you perform the incantation ceremony. The rest of you kill any
monsters that appear to attack us. Raphtalia, Filo, you two focus on weakening
the heart.”
“Understood!”
“Okaaay!”
“Roger that!”
Rishia peeped out
from the hood of her kigurumi. “What should I do?”
“You can . . .” I
had to be careful about what I entrusted her with. She was more useful than the
troops were, but I couldn’t ask her to team up with Raphtalia either. She moved
faster than she used to, and she was a better attacker too, but I still didn’t
feel comfortable putting her on the front lines. Her nonstop whimpering didn’t
help. “You can help with support spells from the back lines. Don’t come to the
front. The most important thing you can do is keep an eye on the battle and let
me know when anything unexpected happens.”
“Oh, um . . .
Alright.”
That was all I
could think of for the time being.
We found the
hourglass a little further down the tunnel. The troops didn’t know what to make
of it. They were clearly scared of it.
Huh? It looked like
it had a little less sand in it than it had the last time we saw it. Maybe I
was just imagining things. The tunnel was shaking, so some of the sand had
probably just shifted and settled.
Enough. It was time
to finish this.
“That’s . . .
that’s the heart.” The troops were speechless when they saw it. It was a pretty
terrifying sight to behold, after all.
The heart noticed
our arrival and filled the chamber with an enraged roar. The eyes opened wide,
and the whole heart began to beat harder. It must have remembered us.
Good. We’d be the
last people it ever saw. We weren’t retreating this time.
“Let’s go!” I
shouted. The troops shouted back and immediately began to prepare the
ceremonial sealing spell. Filo and Raphtalia dashed to the front line and
started to attack the heart. The non-wizard troops pulled out their weapons and
fought off familiars that got too close to the others.
I kept on eye on
the incantation and used Hate Reaction, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to
protect the troops from the swarms of familiars. Sometimes I used Change Shield
when the familiars got too close.
I was using a lot
of SP, but I was able to keep my head above water by using Soul Eat from time
to time. The SP recovery (small) effect didn’t do a lot, but it helped. The
heart let lose a massive volley of heat beams. That meant that it was time to
switch to the Whale Magic Core Shield.
“Mr. Naofumi! There
are too many familiars!”
“I know! They
aren’t letting up!”
The last time we’d
fought the heart, we’d only traded a couple of attacks, so the whole thing
ended very quickly. Because of that, we hadn’t had time to judge the amount of
support the heart was getting from the familiars. They came swarming from every
direction. From the floor, the ceiling, the walls—everywhere! At the same time,
the heart was busy blasting us with heat beams. There were too many things I
had to block at once.
The heart’s eyes
shot over to the wizards deep in their ceremonial magic preparations. It glared
at them.
What now? Was it
going to blast them with a heat beam?
The floor
underneath the heart changed color, and I quickly realized it was the same
mandala-like pattern from before. It was about to use its gravity attack! The
pattern started to spin rapidly.
No!
I ran over to stand
before the wizards and I readied my shield. Just in time—the eyes opened and
emitted a huge heat beam.
“Ugh!”
A few people were
caught in the blast, and they instantly vanished, leaving no trace. I caught
the brunt of the blast with my shield, and the force of it pushed me back a few
paces.
“Ugh.”
The beam was huge.
If this were a game, it would have been a special finishing attack. It was the
strongest attack the heart had used yet. Luckily, it was still considerably
weaker than any of the Spirit Tortoise’s attacks we’d faced outside. But you’d
be a goner if it hit you directly.
I hoped it wouldn’t
go on forever, like the mimic monster’s attack had.
“AARRGH!” I changed
the angle of my shield and forced the beam upward. The heat beam seared the
fleshy ceiling of the chamber, and a spray of blood rained down on us.
We were inside the
body of our enemy, and that was a fact I had to take advantage of. Still, it
would only be a few moments before the flesh regenerated and made it as if
nothing had happened.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Are you okay?”
“I’m fine.”
The attacks we’d
suffered outside of the body were stronger. The heart’s attacks were nothing I couldn’t
handle.
“Are you ready to
cast the sealing spell yet?”
“We need a little
more time!”
“Alright! Anyone
who still has fight in them, attack the heart and weaken it! Remember, we
aren’t trying to kill it!”
“Okay!”
“Okaaaay!”
Raphtalia and Filo
had been waiting for my signal to use their special attacks.
“Ying-Yang Sword!”
“Puchikuikku!”
With the damage the
beam had done to the ceiling and the weight of Filo and Raphtalia’s attacks to
deal with, everything started to shake violently.
Weren’t they ready
yet?
The monster was so
full of life energy that it restored itself almost instantaneously. How were we
supposed to “weaken” a monster like that? All I could do was have everyone
focus on attacking it. But I was starting to get a bad feeling.
“How’s that?”
“Take this!”
Raphtalia and Filo
flew forward and sliced through a number of the sinews that were connected to
the heart.
“. . . ?!”
The heart
immediately began to have trouble beating. You could tell with a single glance.
That ought to give the wizards enough time to cast their spell.
“We’re ready!”
“Great! Do it!”
“Roger!”
The wizards all
shouted in unison. “We are the source of all power, and we command you. Hear
this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to stop the Spirit Tortoise, one of the
four spirits of destruction!”
Did it work?
The heart began to
twitch. White blobs covered the surface and then shot out in all directions!
“High ceremonial
magic?”
The blobs flew
through the air. There was no time! I quickly cast Shooting Star Shield, Shield
Prison, Air Strike Shield, and Second Shield to protect the wizards.
“Ugh!”
“Ahhh!”
“Damn!”
I wasn’t fast
enough to save them all. Some of the blobs made it past me.
I kept my shield up
and turned to survey the damage. It was worse than I’d expected.
“Are you alright?”
“I’m sorry, we
failed . . .” one of the wizards said, his head hanging.
“There’s still
time! Report!”
“We’ve lost some
men! I’ll report back when I know more!”
How were the front
lines doing? I turned back to find Raphtalia and Filo clearly exhausted. Their
shoulders were heaving with heavy breathing. They found a break in the fight
and came running back to me, their faces pale.
“Are you alright?!”
“Raphtalia! What
happened?!”
Eclair ran to
Raphtalia’s side to support her, and they both shuffled over to me. In
contrast, Filo looked like she was doing better. The old lady must have dodged
the attack completely.
“I’m . . . alright
. . . but I . . . My magic power is . . .”
“Yeah, um . . .
That thing stole our magic power!”
Damn. This was not
going well. The heart had the same draining attacks that the head had.
The report from the
wizards was ready.
“A number of men
have died after losing their magic power!”
“Can we still hold
the line?”
“Yes. Thanks to
you, we can still use the sealing spell.
“Good.”
The drain negation
effect was proving more useful than I’d expected. We were suffering losses, but
we were still able to hold our own. We didn’t have to retreat just yet.
“I know it’s tough,
but get the next spell ready!”
“Roger that!”
If the heart
attacked with any sort of pattern, it would use its heat beams next. Sure
enough, it started to charge up for the attack.
I ran to protect
the wizards and prepared to deflect the beam again.
“. . . !”
“Damn.”
The attack was even
stronger than it had been the last time! I was still able to endure the brunt
of it with the Whale Magic Core Shield, but this newest attack was by far the
strongest yet. I could feel the skin on my hands starting to singe. It felt
terrible.
The white blobs had
returned to the heart, and they seemed to be driving the increase in power of
its heat beam. The shield was holding out, but it was so hot that it was
starting to hurt me. I began taking damage.
“Ughhhh.”
I struggled to
deflect the beam upwards. With all the additional power behind it, it was
proving difficult. I was afraid that I couldn’t control it. It reminded me of
trying to open an umbrella in a powerful windstorm. If I couldn’t control the
angle, I might end up vaporizing the troops!
“Hey! Don’t you
hurt master with the energy you stole from me!” Filo barked and prepared to
suck magic power back into herself.
“Everyone keep the
monsters away from Filo!”
“Alright!”
“Understood!”
“Oh . . . Okay!”
Raphtalia and
Eclair, along with Rishia and the old lady, all ran over to form a circle around
Filo. They killed any monster that got close.
“Schwooooooooop!”
Filo started
sucking in a lot of air, so much of it that I could feel the wind she was
causing on my skin. Any white blobs that were trying to return to the heart
stopped in mid-air and switch directions. Filo was pulling them all in, and
they couldn’t get back to the heart.
Finally, the
intensity of the heat wave began to weaken.
“Oh! The holy
saint’s monster is very impressive! I did not think that she would have
mastered aspects of Hengen Muso in secret!”
It was no time to
stand around feeling impressed!
“Hey, old lady, if
you can do that too, do it already!”
“Very well!”
The old lady began
to suck in air just like Filo was doing.
Huh? The more air
she pulled in, the more the old lady’s skin started to change. She looked like
she was getting younger.
“Nice job, you
two!” I shouted. Filo, now round as a ball, was waving at me.
“Take it back!”
Filo shouted. She sharply exhaled in the direction of the heart, and something
that looked like a concentrated ball of air shot through the room.
“Hengen Muso
Technique! Full Moon!”
The old woman spun
her arms in circles before pulling her palms together in a pose that I’d seen
plenty of times in fighting games. A ball of magic formed between her hands,
then shot across the room at the heart.
To be more
specific, it was just like that move you get when you hit down, right diagonal,
and right on the controller.
“. . . !”
The heart formed a
force field around itself to block the attacks. At the same time, all the
familiars in the room turned and flew at the ball of magic, trying to stop it
before it could reach the heart. But they weren’t strong enough. The ball
ripped them to pieces without even slowing down.
For a minute, all
the powers in the room were focused on the ball of magic, locked in a draw. If
the wizards were going to use the sealing spell, now was the time.
“Do it now!”
“Alright!”
“We are the source
of all power, and we command you. Hear this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to
stop the Spirit Tortoise, one of the four spirits of destruction!”
An enormous mandala
of light appeared in the air surrounding the heart. It had been so focused on
dealing with the old lady and Filo’s attacks that it was shocked to find itself
surrounded by swirling patterns of magic.
“High ceremonial
magic: Seal!”
The mandala
multiplied until there were many layers stacked on one another, then finally
contracted around the heart.
“ . . . ?!”
Thump . . . Thump .
. . Th . . . ump . . . th . . .
The heart beat
slower and slower. Then it stopped all together.
“Yes!”
The whole room
erupted in cheers.
“We did it!”
Whew . . . but it
was disappointing. Ost seemed to feel the same way, and the queen wasn’t able
to hide the worry written all over her face.
If we’d bought
ourselves some time here, then at least we could focus on finding the core.
“I’ll give these
back, big sis!”
“What? No! Filo! I
don’t want them!”
The white blobs
flew out of Filo’s body and slammed into Raphtalia.
When they hit her,
color began to return to her pale face. But Raphtalia didn’t look happy about
it. She squirmed, like a bunch of bugs had crawled up into her clothes.
She’d shoot them at
Eclair next.
“Unnecessary! None
of my magic was stolen. Give it to someone else!” Eclair shouted. But Filo
wasn’t listening, and she shot more of the white blobs at her.
Raphtalia threw one
of the white blobs to the floor and started angrily chasing Filo around the
room.
“Hey! Filo! I won’t
forgive you for this!”
“Uh oh! She’s gonna
get me!”
“Ha ha ha!”
Whew . . . Well, we’d
finally managed to imprison the heart.
As far as I
understood what Ost had said, the real seal had never been properly broken, so
I guess it was safe to say we’d pulled it off.”
“So we’re safe for
a little while?”
“It’s hard to say,”
the queen said, hiding her mouth behind a fan.
She was right.
Besides, Ost looked very grim.
“Filo, has Fitoria
said anything yet?”
“Um . . . It sounds
like the tortoise has stopped moving outside.”
So I guess we . . .
won?
I didn’t even have
time to finish the thought.
“Master?!” Filo
stopped running and shouted at me. She looked scared.
Thump! Thump!
The heart started
to beat again.
A sickening,
shattering sound filled the room and the seal around the heart broke. The
heart’s eyes opened wide and immediately shot a huge heat beam at us.
I ran to block it
before it could hit the troops.
“What a sore
loser!”
“Yeah!”
“It didn’t work?!”
“The spell was
successful, but the heart was able to break free somehow!”
Damn!”
What were we
supposed to do? We destroyed the heart and head at the same time and it didn’t
work. We used a sealing spell on the heart, and it didn’t work.
There had to be
another way. I couldn’t give up.
Think!
What else could we do?
We had already
tried everything that the reports had suggested. There was only one other thing
we hadn’t tried—finding the core.
“Ost! Are you sure
you don’t know where the core is?!”
“When the sealing
spell restrained the heart, I felt a glimmer of . . . something. It may show us
the way.”
“What?! Where is
it?!”
“Beneath the
chamber we are in now, there is another. The core can be found there.”
It was underneath
the heart!
“Do you think I can
punch a hole in the floor if I deflect the heat beam downward?”
“I don’t think that
will work. The core will not be so easy to reach.”
“Then what are we
supposed to do?”
Ost closed her
eyes, then opened them again, with a look of determination. She pointed at the
heart. “Shield Hero, friends, troops, I have an idea!”
“What is it?!”
Why did she have to
drag this out for so long?! I was getting tired of blocking the heat beam.
“Destroy the heart
and head at the same time, then use the sealing spell on the dying heart. If
you do both, the path to the core will open.”
“Are you sure?!”
“Yes. It will
work.”
I wasn’t sure I
believed her—but I didn’t have a choice.
“Alright, let’s do
it! Filo, tell Fitoria what we’re doing! Make sure she’s ready to crush the
head! Raphtalia, get ready!”
“Okay!”
“Alright!”
I turned to face
Eclair, Rishia, and the old lady.
“Eclair and
Rishia—you two keep the familiars away from the heart. We can’t have them
interfering. Old lady, if the heart tries to drain our magic power, you stop
it.”
“Understood!”
“I’ll do my best!”
“I won’t disappoint
you, holy saint!”
Last but not least,
the hardest problem remained.
“Queen, you and the
wizards get ready to cast the spell again. We’ll have to get the timing just
right, so make sure you’re ready!”
“As you command,
Mr. Iwatani.”
Everyone accepted
their orders, but they looked exhausted.
I was exhausted
too. I needed a break—we’d been fighting all day. But it wasn’t time to relax
yet. The fight wasn’t over.
We had to finish
it.
Raphtalia and Filo
prepared to use their special attacks. I kept holding my shield against the
brunt of the heat beam and then turned to check on the wizards.
The familiars were
swarming, and Eclair and Rishia were keeping them away. The heart shot out
hundreds of those white clumps, but the old lady used her skills to keep them
from hitting any of us. The wizards and the queen were furiously chanting
incantations.
Filo had been
focusing with her eyes closed, but now she opened them and shouted, “Raphtalia!
Big sis!”
“I know!” Raphtalia
said. She filled her sword with magic and jumped up onto Filo’s back. “Let’s
end this. Ready, Filo? Directional Thrust of Heaven!”
“Spiral Strike!”
Filo raised her
wings and charged at the heart. Raphtalia sat on her back, her sword leveled in
front of them both. They shot through the chamber like a bullet and pierced the
heart. Even with all the powered-up stats I had, they moved so quickly I
couldn’t see them.
Filo landed on the
other side of the room with a deafening crash. Raphtalia flicked blood from her
blade. The white blobs in the room all exploded and rained down on everyone
like snow. The heart split open and sprayed everything with blood.
It was an awesome
sight, but the Spirit Tortoise wasn’t dead yet.
When the heart
split open and sprayed the room with blood, the wizards had just finished their
preparations. The queen stepped forward and shouted, “We are the source of all
power, and we command you. Hear this truth and heed it. Drive a wedge to stop
the Spirit Tortoise, one of the four spirits of destruction!”
“High ceremonial
magic: Seal!”
The heart was
trying desperately to regenerate itself when the sealing spell activated.
Wrapped in the swirling magic, the regeneration began to slow.
“Ost!”
“I, Ost Horai,
command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up
blood. Oh self, I command you. Open the oath to my depths!”
Her hands were
stretched out to the heart, and then, as if it were trying to swallow her, a
square hole opened in the floor in front of the heart. Stairs filled the hole
with a loud thunk!
“This . . . This
must be the path to the core.”
“Great! Let’s go!”
“Wait just a
moment,” Ost said, hesitating at the entrance.
“What is it?”
“Whoever has taken
control of the Spirit Tortoise is down these steps. Anyone who cannot command
an exceptional amount of strength will only slow us down in the battle to
come.”
“I know what you
mean, but am I supposed to just send them back?”
“No. But . . .
Shield Hero, I do not believe we will be able to protect everyone from this
point on. Please understand.”
Her eyes were
serious, imploring. It was the same look she’d had the first time she appeared
to me. She truly wanted to end all this. She was telling me that it wouldn’t
help to bring the troops. She was trying to save them.
Maybe she was
right. Whoever was down there, they were strong enough to take control of the
Spirit Tortoise. Most of the troops with us could barely defeat a familiar.
What hope did they have against this new enemy?
“Alright.”
“Shield Hero?!” the
troops shouted in disbelief.
“Troops, retreat to
a place where there are no enemies and wait for us to return. As for your
protection . . .”
I would need Raphtalia
and Filo for sure. And obviously, Ost had to come. Should I have Eclair, the
old lady, and Rishia protect the troops?
“Mr. Iwatani, leave
the rest up to me,” the queen said. “Your priority must be to stop the Spirit
Tortoise as soon as possible. You do not need to concern yourself with the rest
of us.”
“Okay.”
Honestly, I sort of
wanted to leave Rishia behind. But thanks to the Filo kigurumi, she was proving
herself more useful than she had in the past. And she’d been studying Hengen
Muso tactics, too. Maybe she could offer an attack when we needed it most.
There was no need
to split us up any more than necessary.
“Alright, everyone!
Let’s get going!”
“Okay!”
There, before the
slowly regenerating heart, we split into two parties and went our separate
ways.
The stairs went on
forever. We’d been descending a dark, fleshy hallway for about 10 minutes when
the tunnel began to level out. Finally, I saw light at the end of the tunnel.
Something felt strange about it all. It was like my shield was pulsing in my
hands.
I looked at Ost for
confirmation. She was gazing at the light, determined.
If we didn’t defeat
whoever was at the end of the hallway, then we wouldn’t be able to stop the
Spirit Tortoise. But if we did defeat the tortoise, then Ost would die too.
Everyone knew it, and they trudged on in silence.
I pinched my cheek
to bring myself back to reality. We had to keep our priorities in mind.
“Everyone! This is
it! Don’t give up!”
“Alright!”
“Yup! Imma do my
best!”
“Feh . . . We’ll
get out of this alive!”
“That’s the spirit!
There’s no better time to put your training to use!”
“That’s right!”
Ost nodded. “It’s
time to stop my true body! Shield Hero, everyone, let’s go!”
“Yeah!”
We ran for the
light, and when we reached it, we found ourselves in a large room—much larger
than I’d expected. The walls were solid, yet they seemed somehow alive. I
couldn’t put my finger on it. It was like they were made of marble, but they
was pulsing. When my eyes adjusted, I couldn’t believe what I saw.
“What the . . .”
The first thing I
saw was a strange object hovering in the air. It must have been the core. It
was a giant shining green crystal, and it spun very slowly on its axis. The
light it gave off must have been the collected souls of those who had lost
their lives in the rampage.
But I couldn’t look
at the core forever. Something behind it drew my attention. There were three
large transparent crystals set in the far wall, and locked inside of them were
. . . the three missing heroes!
“Sh . . .”
“Ugggg . . .”
“Uhhhh . . .”
They seemed to be
unconscious, but they all had pained expressions on their faces and were
muttering in agony.
“What is this?”
“Master Itsuki!”
Rishia ran to the crystal where Itsuki slept, but something fluttered down and
knocked her away before she could get close.
“Ahh!”
It was . . . a
sheet of paper!
The paper was
covered in electric sparks of some kind. It had knocked Rishia to the ground.
“I can’t believe my
eyes! To think you would make it this far—not that I ever doubted you. Nice
work!”
That voice. I felt
like I’d heard it before, when we were searching for the heroes.
I searched for the
source and found it. A man stood before the faceted green crystal.
He was about as
tall as me.
His hair looked . .
. white? But it also seemed to have a sheen to it. Maybe it was silver. It was
long and shaggy and hung around his white face. His face itself wasn’t so bad
looking.
But meeting him for
the first time, I immediately knew that we weren’t going to be friends. It was
his eyes that made me feel that way. They were stagnant, rotten—like the eyes
of a dead fish. The air around him was dark and gloomy.
He reminded me of
the sort of person you never wanted in your group of friends—the sort of person
who only thought of themselves. He felt like the sort of person who talked
nonstop about what they liked but never contributed to
anyone else’s conversation, all the while telling themselves it was because
they were smarter than everyone. His face looked very self-satisfied.
He wore a long
coat, which made him look a bit like a scientist. He wore a strange belt around
his chest that almost looked like it was made of test tubes. It’s hard to find
the right word to describe him, but he sort of looked like an alchemist. Not
that I really knew what an alchemist looked like—I’d only seen them in anime.
He wore leather
gloves and shoes and seemed to be the kind of guy that worried incessantly
about his appearance. I’d learned a bit about medicine formulation since I
arrived in this world, but I still didn’t know anything about alchemy. I’d seen
books and tools related to it in stores though, and I could tell that the
person standing in front of us was the real deal.
I couldn’t ignore
the evil look in his eyes or the strange book he gripped in one hand. A
gemstone was affixed to the cover, one that I’d seen somewhere before. I didn’t
like the look of it.
“When you first
blew this thing’s head off, I have to say I was a little nervous. But then you
just went on your way without even looking for this place! I had to laugh at
that. You heroes are so stupid.”
“. . .”
He was probably
trying to piss me off, so I didn’t pay him the courtesy of responding. I didn’t
have to listen to everything he said to know that he was not a nice person.
“Welcome to the
deepest part of the Spirit Tortoise. What do you think?”
“Master Itsuki!”
Rishia said, climbing back to her feet.
“Oh, you know those
guys? I was a little freaked out when the four heroes tried to get in here—but
they were so weak it was funny! Ha! Are all the heroes from your world this
dumb?”
“What are they
doing here?” I asked, pointing at the three heroes.
“Oh, you don’t
know?”
Their weapons
glowed faintly, as if they were trying to . . . resist something?
But no. That wasn’t
it.
“You’re stealing
their power.”
“Bingo! You might
be an idiot, but you must be the smartest of the bunch! Ahaha!”
He broke into peels
of vulgar laughter. It bothered me. I guess from his perspective, we did seem
stupid. We’d defeated the tortoise once, only to let it reawaken and go on
another rampage. Our ignorance had cost thousands of lives.
How was I supposed
to know? I didn’t know anything about this world, much less how to defeat the
Spirit Tortoise.
I was just the
Shield Hero—all I could do was defend!
“You should have
seen the way I caught them. The Sword Hero kept right on attacking me after all
of his party was dead! He was like a boar! And the Spear Hero took off running
the minute his support started to fail. I just had to chase him down and scoop
him up! And the Bow Hero—he had a falling out with his friends. They tied him
up and left him alone! Ahahaha!” He went on laughing like a hyena.
That was why we
couldn’t find any trace of the heroes. He’d captured them all. Worse yet, they
were the reason that the Spirit Tortoise was stronger after its reawakening—the
tortoise was feeding off the power of their weapons. The heroes might not have
known how to use them, but their weapons still contained a great deal of power.
I knew how powerful
their weapons were because of how powerful my shield was—I’d just survived
attacks from the Spirit Tortoise, even when it was blasting me with the
strength of the other heroes’ weapons.
“What do you
want!?” Eclair yelled, stepping forward.
I wanted to know
too. How could he have possibly benefited from all of this? Wasn’t the Spirit
Tortoise supposed to protect the world?
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.
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 forces 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.
Kyo’s mouth twisted
into a cruel smile, and he summoned more neo guardian types from the walls. At
the same time, the three heroes squirmed in their crystal prisons, their faces
growing more and more pale.
They looked like
they could die at any moment.
L’Arc and his
friends were going to help us, but the familiars in the chamber were increasing
exponentially.
“Let’s go! Hya!”
L’Arc swung his scythe and dispatched two of the neo guardian types at once.
“Argh!” He strained to bring the scythe back around.
“Come on! You’re
stronger than that!”
L’Arc was a strong
fighter. He could even manage to get through my defenses. Raphtalia could have
taken down two of the familiars without too much trouble, so it was hard to
believe that he had to strain himself to pull it off. Was he just pretending to
be on our side?
“Ah, I guess you
don’t know. I’m only that powerful during the waves. Now I’m just a level 75
vassal weapon possessor.”
“What?!”
If the vassal
weapons were like the heroes, then it meant he was weaker now than he was the
last time we’d fought him. Of course, that’s just what he was telling me. I
didn’t know if it was true.
“And Glass over
there is only around level 40.”
“L’Arc! Why are you
telling them all of that?!” Glass snapped.
Her skills were
still powerful enough to kill a neo guardian type with one hit, especially
using Tortoise Shell Split.
“It’s because we
haven’t spent enough time in this world.”
“L’Arc!”
“Oh, shut up,
already! Don’t you see that we need this kid’s help if we want to win?”
“Ms. Glass! Stay
alert!” Therese shouted.
Glass quickly
turned around to find a neo guardian swing a sword at her. She quickly flipped
open her fan to block the attack.
They were right.
She wasn’t as strong as she had been the last time.
What did he mean
when he said they hadn’t been here long? Was that why they were weaker? I’d
have to worry about it later—at least they were on our side. This was our
chance. I quickly sent L’Arc an invitation to join the party as a support
troop.
“Thanks, kiddo!
Glass, hurry up and accept it!” L’Arc accepted first, followed quickly by Glass
and Therese.
“Did you pass the
army troops on the way down here?”
“Yeah. But without
Raphtalia around to see through our spells, we were able to get by them without
getting caught.”
The troops had
probably thought it was weird, but if L’Arc and the others pretended to be from
the army, then they wouldn’t have stopped them. They just had to walk with
confidence.
“Alright. That’s
all I need to know. Shooting Star Shield!”
It would probably
break immediately, but that was fine. At least it would stop one attack.
If we could just
get a quick break from the onslaught, L’Arc and the others could get a few
attacks in.
“Hya!” L’Arc swung
his scythe at one of the neo guardians.
“Acho!” the old
lady shouted as she charged one of the neo guardians with her shoulder. It must
have been a defense-rating attack, because the familiar went flying.
“Tya!”
“Ha!”
Raphtalia sliced at
one of the monsters, and Eclair followed up with a thrust to finish it off.
“Tah!” Filo
shouted, clawing at a familiar with all of her body weight behind it.
We were actually
holding our own.
“Alright! Filo,
Raphtalia—” I didn’t have to finish the sentence. Both of them jumped back from
the front line and started to charge up their attacks, when . . .
“You think I’ll let
you get away with that?!” Kyo shouted, filling the air with fluttering pages
from his book. He muttered a spell to himself and threw a glass bottle at the
ground. It shattered with a big puff of smoke, and the whole room filled with
green light, followed by a creepy, dull sound. It was like the buzzing of
insect wings. “Expanding Composition Form Six! Invigorate!”
The fallen neo
guardians all noisily climbed to their feet. They moved faster, and more
powerfully, than before.
“Oh no!” L’Arc
shoved Glass out of the way and blocked an attack.
“L’Arc . . .”
“Damn it. These
things have gotten stronger!”
Three of the neo
guardians turned to attack him at once.
“Air Strike
Shield!” I shouted, deploying a shield to protect them.
“Thank you,
Naofumi.”
“Thanks, kiddo!”
“Save it for
later!” I shouted. We weren’t out of this yet. I cast Second Shield to protect
Eclair. Behind them all, Ost and Therese seemed to be doing okay on their own,
or so I thought. A neo guardian in the distance leveled an arrow at them. They
might have been able to dodge it, but I didn’t want to take the risk, so I used
Dritte Shield to block it.
I was surprised
that the Shooting Star Shield barrier was still in place. Filo and Raphtalia
were still focusing on preparing their skills, so they couldn’t defend
themselves. I’d have to do it for them. The chamber was absolute chaos.
Familiars were everywhere, and the air was filled with fluttering book pages.
If we used a big powerful skill, there was a chance that some of our allies
might get swept up in it.
Therese was using a
convenient type of magic that distinguished between friend and foe, which
helped a little, but the spells weren’t strong enough to turn the tide of the
battle.
I had to start
thinking about retreat. But if we escaped, the other heroes were as good as
dead, and who knew what that madman would do next? No, escape wasn’t an option.
“Ahaha! Come at me!
Give me all you’ve got! Ahaha!” Kyo burst into a fit of laughter but kept his
dead eyes trained on me.
The odds weren’t
looking good. Worse yet, our enemy was using the three heroes and the Spirit
Tortoise itself for an energy source. So we were getting tired, and he wasn’t.
If we could destroy
the core, maybe we’d have a chance of stopping one of this energy streams. But
the core was too well defended.
Well defended?
“L’Arc!” I locked
eyes with him, then raised my shield, pointed, and motioned to Kyo with my
eyes.
Understanding what
I meant, L’Arc nodded. “You’ll try anything won’t you? Alright then!”
I ran over and
jumped into the spot L’Arc was defending. He jumped back a few paces, made the
tip of his scythe shine, and then ran forward and jumped, using my back as a
springboard.
“Hyaaa!”
He flew through the
air, gaining a lot of ground—but not enough to reach the core or Kyo.
Kyo giggled and
sent a group of neo guardians to surround the spot he expected L’Arc to land.
They each raised their weapons.
“Shield Prison!”
I summoned a cage
of shields in the air above them, and L’Arc landed on it, then leapt at Kyo,
bringing his scythe down hard.
Crack! The barrier that had protected Kyo shattered and fell to the floor.
That’s right. The
barrier had a very high defense level, which meant that L’Arc’s defense-rating
attacks were all the more effective.
“Now!”
At my signal, the
two people behind us who had been casting spells switched gears and attacked.
And of course, the
rest of us didn’t let up with our attacks.
“Shining Stones! Rain
of Thunder!”
“The source of all
strength, the Spirit Tortoise, commands you! Read and comprehend all that is
under the sun, and show your power to me!”
“Gravity Field!
Extreme Gravity!”
Ost produced a
black magic ball—much larger than the times she’d done so before—and shot it at
Kyo.
But the incantation
sounded different this time. She’d used a different name. Was she . . .
“Damn you!” Kyo
shouted.
The fluttering
pages in the air snapped into place and lined up in layers before him, just
like I did with my shields, to block Therese and Ost’s spells.
“Hya!”
L’Arc had another
chance! He spun his scythe and sliced at Kyo. Kyo shot his hand out, and the
air before him crackled with magic, repelling the scythe blade. Then,
reflexively protecting its commander, a neo guardian ran to attack L’Arc.
L’Arc wasn’t going
to go down so easily. He knew when to pull back, and he did, jumping away to
get some distance.
“Well, well. That
was really something. I didn’t know you could use defense-rating attacks.”
“I’ve had trouble
with those attacks before. I’m the Shield Hero, so I know a thing or two about
dealing with high defenses.”
“Ha! Aren’t you
smart? Let’s see how you like this!” Kyo opened his hand and the barrier
reappeared. Then another appeared. Then another. Soon there were layers upon
layers.
L’Arc and Glass
gasped.
“I’d like to see
you get through all of these!”
“Old lady.”
“What?”
“Raphtalia is going
to stop charging up and take care of all the small fries. You focus on those
barriers.”
“Understood!
Filo—I’ll leave this up to you!” she shouted, slipping from the battle line and
running over to Kyo.
“You’re wasting
your time.”
“Acho!”
A neo guardian
reached for her, but she jumped onto its shoulders and used it as a stepping
stone. High in the air, she could almost reach the barrier—but not quite.
Everyone had their limits.
“Air Strike Shield!
Second Shield!”
Just like I’d done
for L’Arc, I sent out shield after shield, sometimes to protect her, sometimes
to form a platform that she could use to get closer to Kyo. L’Arc was
approaching from the other direction, hacking his way through hordes of neo
guardians.
“Take that!”
“Acho!” She slammed
the barrier with a defense-rating attack and it shattered. Then the one beneath
it shattered too. She kept crashing through them.
“What?! How can . .
. How is she doing that?”
“What does it
matter? You didn’t think we were out of ideas yet, did you?” I taunted him.
He glared at me,
his eyes burning with hate.
His ego was
fragile. He let himself get worked up over the slightest taunt! If he had to
endure even a fraction of what had happened to me in this world, his head would
probably explode.
“Acho!” the old
lady shouted, shattering the final barrier with her elbow.
L’Arc was right
behind her. He swung his scythe, and it slammed into Kyo.
“Filo!”
“Yup!”
Or I thought the
scythe had hit him. In a last, desperate attempt at defense, the fluttering
pages shot down to block L’Arc’s attack. A shockwave expanded out from Kyo. It
was so powerful it sent the old lady and L’Arc flying. They slammed into the
wall.
Damn. Our timing
was off. Filo hadn’t finished charging her attack in time.
“Spiral Strike!”
She moved so fast
she was a streak of light. She shot through a neo guardian, and kept flying
until she blasted through Kyo.
She appeared again
on the other side and . . . yes! A huge hole sat where Kyo’s stomach used to
be.
“Filo-chan! That
was really something!”
“Yay!” Filo said,
striking a victory pose. I wasn’t ready to celebrate just yet. Kyo tottered and
looked like he was about to fall to his knees. But then, with a gushing sound,
the flesh on his torso regenerated to fill the hole, and he stood there as if
nothing had happened.
“I didn’t think
anyone could hurt me.”
What kind of
monster was he?
Restorative magic
existed in this world, so it wasn’t completely unbelievable that someone might
be able to heal their torn flesh. We’d have to hit him where it really hurt
next time. In his chest or his head.
“Fascinating. You
really surprised me with that one. But I’m smarter than you are, so it’s going
to take more than that. Look, I’m as good as new!”
This guy couldn’t
speak a sentence without insulting someone. Why did he think he was so smart?
If the attack had hit him a little differently, he would have died—and we would
have won.
“Good as new? Sure.
Let’s see how many times you can pull that off. We can all see how this is
going to end,” I said, flashing him a confident smile.
He was the sort of
person that freaked out when you ignored him. He’d take any sort of attention
he could get. Fine then. I’d entertain him with my answers and wait for him to
show his back.
“But I’m getting a
little tired of playing with you. I probably can’t get any more energy out of
this place, so maybe it’s time to wrap this up,” he sneered condescendingly.
When he finished
playing his hand, I hoped that he would shut up.
He formed another
series of protective barriers around himself and held his hand out to the
Spirit Tortoise core.
The air in the
chamber began to vibrate.
What was going on?
“Ugh . . .”
“Ahhh!”
“Damn . . .”
Nearly everyone in
the room fell to the floor. They squirmed, unable to move.
I could barely
stand myself. Was it a gravity attack?
“Shooting Star
Shield!”
The force field
appeared and then shattered a moment later.
“That’s not going
to work! It’s an offensive gravity field! I’m using the Spirit Tortoise’s best
attacks against you now! Almost no one can move in here!”
I looked around the
chamber, but there were a few people still standing: Ost, Glass, the old lady .
. . and Rishia, who stooped but was still on her feet. Everyone else was pinned
to the floor, unable to move.
The gravity field
was so strong that not even Raphtalia or Filo could move to escape it.
The neo guardians
and Kyo didn’t seem to be affected at all.
“Not . . . Not
yet!” Glass shouted defiantly at a neo guardian that stalked toward her.
Anyone that could
still move rushed to protect their friends from the neo guardians. I stayed on
my feet to protect Raphtalia and the others. The old lady protected L’Arc and
Filo, and Ost protected Therese, Rishia, and Eclair.
“Shield Hero!”
Ost cast a spell
and a force field of some kind appeared around her. Then Therese, Rishia, and
Eclair slowly climbed to their feet. I grabbed Raphtalia by the shoulders and
dragged her into the force field.
“We made it.”
Kyo was smiling at
us. He looked like he might burst out laughing.
“I wonder how long
you can hold out?”
“Ugh . . .”
Ost was tiring. Her
face was growing pale. It didn’t look good. No one could keep up their normal
activity under the sort of pressure that the gravity field was exerting on us.
Not even the old
lady or Glass.
Huh? I saw Glass
drinking from a bottle of what appeared to be soul-healing water.
I suddenly
remembered what had happened during our last fight on the islands. L’Arc had
dumped a bottle of soul-healing water on her, and she ended up insanely
powerful as a result.
I’d thought
something wasn’t quite right when L’Arc had said she was only round level 40.
But now I understood that she was boosting herself with that medicine this
whole time. I pulled a bottle out of my shield and tossed it to Glass. There
were still enough materials stored in the shield to make more if I needed to,
but I didn’t have the time.
“You have my
thanks.”
She covered herself
in the water and immediately began to move easier and faster. She slapped open
her fans and jumped forward.
Her attacks seemed
to carry the same weight they had when we fought on the islands. She physically
smashed through Kyo’s barriers, knocking aside any neo guardians that got in
her way.
“Well now . . .
look at that . . . the spirit strives . . . come on then . . . come on.”
Her attacks landed
powerfully as she beat her way across the room, but she began to slow down.
Before she reached Kyo, she seemed to be losing power and speed.
“Yeah, that’s what
I thought. The spirits have no endurance.”
What was this
“spirit” he kept talking about? Glass?
Huff . . . Huff . .
.
“I’m not done yet.”
She opened her fans and looked like she was about to use her special move,
Reverse Snow Moon Flower.
What could I do?
Was I supposed to just sit there and watch?
Ost reached out and
touched my shield, resting her weight against me.
“Lend me your
power. As the Shield Hero, lend us that magic power. Let us move in this
gravity field. Let us shatter the barriers.”
The voice was very
weak. It was like it was speaking to my soul. It was different from a human
voice, but I heard it speaking to me.
I quickly imagined
myself casting Zweite Aura.
“That’s not it.
That will not overcome this.”
“But . . . But I .
. .”
“Relax. Think of
the spells you know. Imagine yourself spinning the highest magic.”
What was she
talking about? Before I could say anything, she continued.
“The shield you are
currently using has magic assistance properties. It is not so difficult, so
please concentrate. I will help you.”
Was she talking
about the Whale Magic Core Shield?
Come to think of
it, it did have a special effect called magic assistance, but I never knew what
that was supposed to mean, so I’d ignored it. I had just thought that it made
my healing and support magic more effective.
But Ost seemed to
know exactly what it meant.
Which made me
wonder, could she see all my stats and abilities?
“I, the Spirit
Tortoise, command the heavens, command the earth, defy all reason, join, and
spit up blood. Oh great strength . . .”
As Ost spoke, I
thought I could feel the power in the room gathering around us. What was
happening?
I knew that she was
using that unique form of magic she had, but . . . something . . . something
different was happening. I could feel something flowing into me.
“A while ago, I
told you that I wanted to teach you this spell. I’m sure you’ll be able to cast
it on your own someday. Please, remember this feeling.”
I nodded silently.
Ost was our last
hope, and she was using me to carry out her plan.
I had to do all I
could.
Something appeared
in my mind, like a puzzle.
It was fuzzy and
hard to make out, but it looked like a series of pieces that could fit
together. My intuition told me that different magic spells would result from
different arrangements of the pieces.
With what I
currently knew, there weren’t very many shapes I could hope to make from the
pieces. But Ost was arranging them for me, indicating the pieces and where they
needed to go. Each time I placed a piece incorrectly, it faded away and
disappeared. Luckily, they reappeared after a moment. In all likelihood,
without Ost there to help me, the disappearing pieces would probably be lost
for good. When the shape assembled the wrong way, Ost somehow reversed the
process. To finish the puzzle, I just had to follow her lead.
Watching the pieces
arrange themselves in my mind, I almost felt like laughing. The puzzle was so
difficult that I didn’t see how anyone could have possibly figured it out.
If I had to spend this
long arranging pieces in my mind during battle, I’d be dead for sure,
especially considering how much concentration it required.
As the pieces
arranged themselves, I could feel them drawing SP and magic away from me. Ost
must have been feeding the spell with her own energy, too. All the spells I’d
known about so far just required the user to use a particular phrase or
incantation with some of their magic power.
I thought back on
the learning curve I’d gone through to learn magic, and I think it was actually
harder to learn to read the magic book than it was to actually cast the spells.
In some ways, magic was actually pretty easy to use.
But this spell was
different. The spells we had already learned were simple enough. Learning them
wasn’t so different than learning spelling or vocabulary in school. But this
spell felt more like . . . it felt more like math. The pieces were like
different numbers, and arranging them in different ways would produce a
different result—a different spell. Before I knew what was happening, I was
speaking.
“I, the Shield
Hero, borrow the strength of the Spirit Tortoise to command the heavens,
command the earth, defy all reason, join, and spit up blood. Oh great strength
of the dragons—join the power of the heroes with magic. The source of power
that is the Shield Hero commands you. Read and comprehend all that is under the
sun, and show your power to me! I command you—give them everything!”
“All Liberation
Aura!”
The field of effect
was . . . all of my allies?!
What was “liberation?”
I thought the highest magic level was “drifa!”
The spell
activated, and my magic power and SP quickly began to drain away. I felt faint
for a second, but it was nothing like what was happening to Ost.
“Are you okay?!”
“Yes . . . I . . .
I can stand.” She jumped to her feet. Something about it didn’t seem right.
Sure, she was a familiar, and we were close to the heart so she could
regenerate faster than normal. But how could she just jump to her feet after
using so much of her energy?
The spell she used
earlier was strange, too. She had said “Spirit Tortoise” instead of “Ost” when
she cast it.
Could Ost really be
. . . No—I had to focus on what was happening before my eyes.
“Ha!”
Glass was running
around at three times the speed she had been, slicing at Kyo with her fans.
L’Arc and Filo leapt to their feet as if nothing had happened. It was a strange
sight to see.
“What is . . . ?!”
“What the hell?!
You had a move like that up your sleeves? You liars!” Kyo screamed.
I couldn’t believe
what was happening. I really want to snap at him. He was calling us liars? Ha!
“Everyone! Hurry
and attack! You should be able to move freely within the gravity field now!”
Ost shouted. Everyone nodded and took off running.
Rishia was still
tottering on unstable legs. She was the last to start moving. “This . . . This
magic power . . . It’s . . . unbelievable!”
Therese shot ball
after ball of flame at the endlessly replenishing stock of regenerating neo
guardians, charring them on the spot. Raphtalia followed the spells with her
sword, which slipped through them as if they were made of butter.
The neo guardians
were falling like flies, and everyone was pressing towards an increasingly
helpless Kyo.
“This is it!”
Glass led the
charge, followed by L’Arc, Raphtalia, Filo, and the rest. They all had their
weapons out and were moving in for the kill. Was I supposed to join them? It
felt strange to sit back and watch.
“Hyaaaaa!”
I couldn’t tell who
had shouted first, but someone moved in for the final attack.
Just then, Kyo
smiled. In a flash, another barrier—like my Shooting Star Shield—appeared
around him. How many tricks did he have up his sleeve?
“I didn’t want to
do this until everything was over. But I will show you my true strength. You
should be grateful.” He opened his hand, and energy began to swirl around the
room and gather at his fingertips. The energy was coming from the Spirit
Tortoise core!
“No thanks!
Everyone! Charge him together!”
I didn’t want to
stand back and watch him fill his hands with whatever that stuff was. At my
call, everyone in the room attacked his force field.
But every time they
broke it, it reappeared in a flash.
“Ugh.”
And every time it
broke, Ost squealed in pain beside me. Everyone noticed the pattern.
“Huh? Oh? You mean
you don’t know? Well, now’s a good a time as any to show you!” Kyo shouted.
Cords of light immediately appeared and bound Ost’s feet together. They pulled
her up into the air and then inside of his barrier.
When she entered
it, it grew even thicker!
Desperate to save
her, everyone furiously attacked the barrier.
With each attack,
Ost twitched and yelped in pain.
“Ost!”
“You idiots! You
really don’t know who this is?”
“What are you
talking about?” When I asked him, Kyo nodded to himself, pleased.
“Oh, Shield Hero. I
know you’re stupid, but you must have some idea—right? Don’t you know who she
is?”
I don’t think Ost
knew who she actually was until we started getting closer to the heart. The
only reason we’d made it as far as we did was because of her help. She was also
the only reason we stood a chance in this fight.
“My . . . My real
name, my real form . . . I am the Spirit Tortoise itself. I am its very soul,
manifest in human form.”
“But then . . . But
all this time we’ve spent together!” Raphtalia shouted, unable to hide her
surprise.
“If the Spirit
Tortoise dies, then so will I. That much hasn’t changed. So do not worry,” Ost
said. Seeing the worry on everyone’s faces, she choked down her pain and smiled
to tell them it would be alright. They all eased their attacks.
“Well, this is a good
time to take the energy she’s absorbed this whole time.”
“U . . . Ugh . . .”
The cords of light
around her arms and legs started to drain away Ost’s remaining energy. At the
same time, a translucent blue ball appeared in his hand. It almost looked like
it was filled with water.
I knew that color.
It was the same color as the sand in the blue dragon hourglasses. It started to
shine.
“Ain’t it pretty?
It’s the energy that the Spirit Tortoise gathered. And now . . .”
The ball flashed
and became transparent before melting into his hands.
The air in the
chamber began to vibrate.
What was going on?
I’d seen something like it in manga and video games. It was the kind of thing
that normally happens at the end of a major battle, when the enemy’s power
skyrockets.
“This makes me so much stronger!” Kyo stepped out from behind his barrier
and walked slowly toward us. The magic energy swirled in a vortex around him.
He seemed to
vibrate for a second, and then he appeared directly in front of me. There was
no time to think—I threw my shield up just in time to block a stream of pages
from Kyo’s book.
They slammed
against the shield with so much force that I couldn’t absorb all the energy. I
dug my heels in, but the pages sent me flying backwards. Luckily, I managed to
regain my balance before falling over.
“Whew! The most
basic composition form is that powerful? Amazing!” Kyo
laughed, pointing his book at everyone in the chamber. “Not bad. Alright! Now,
I’ll show you what I can really do!”
He flipped open the
book and sent pages flying out in all directions. There were too many of them
to dodge, and a lot of people were forced to parry them, getting knocked off
balance in the process.
It wasn’t over yet.
The enemy had become so powerful that the support magic we’d been relying on
until that point had been rendered useless.
“Yes! That’s
better. This is the way I like my battles! Let the enemy think they have a
chance before wham! You crush them. What could be
better? Ahahahaha!”
“Shield Hero!” Ost
shouted. “That man is using the energy that the Spirit Tortoise collected. He’s
using the core to channel it into himself! Hurry! If we can destroy the core,
then we may be able to weaken him.”
That sounded like
good idea to me.
“Now, now! Don’t
you be naughty! I have some tricks left too, you know?” Kyo said, laughing.
“Ahaha! Aren’t you forgetting about my precious hostages? Not that I need
them—I’d still be able do whatever I wanted, even if I didn’t have them!” Kyo
motioned to the three heroes behind him.
“Ugh.”
“You coward.”
Kyo turned back and
frowned at Glass. “Not that you would care about my hostages.”
“. . .”
Glass didn’t move
an inch. She glared at Kyo, anger burning in her eyes.
“Oh, please! You’re
not so naïve, are you? Were you really not going to kill them, just because it
isn’t a fair fight? Ahaha! Lucky me!”
He was so vulgar. I
could hardly stand it.
He’d found Glass’s
weakness and was mocking her—pointing his finger at her and giggling like a
child. I wasn’t friends with any of the other heroes either, but I wouldn’t
leave them to die.
“You coward!”
The shout rang out
like a shot, echoing through the chamber.
“Huh?” Kyo mumbled,
looking for the source.
“I cannot allow you
to take these weakened heroes as your hostage! I will not allow it!”
It was . . .
Rishia.
“Ahaha! If it isn’t
the little girl who’s been standing uselessly on the sidelines! You’re going to
tell me what to do now? Ha!”
“That’s right. I
might not be the strongest person in the room, but I’m not going to stand by
and let you get away with this!” Rishia shouted, flipping back the hood of her
kigurumi to glare at Kyo.
Her eyes looked
different. They weren’t pathetic or imploring. No—they were filled with passion
and anger.
“This weak little
girl doesn’t know her place, does she?”
“Have you even
thought about how Ost must feel coming here? Don’t you realize that we’ve all
come to fight for our futures? For our very lives? Master Itsuki taught me
about justice, and . . . and . . . and I cannot allow you to get away with your
scheming!”
“Justice? Ha! Give
me a break! You’re so weak it’s pathetic—if evil exists, that’s it. You want
justice? I am justice.”
The ground around
Rishia seemed to squirm and crawl. Filo and the old lady had been gathering
energy during Kyo’s speech, and now it was starting to overflow.
“You are getting on
my last nerve. I’ll kill you first,” Kyo barked. He turned and sent a page
flying at Rishia.
I returned to my
senses and ran to protect her, but he was too fast. Damn it! He was going to
kill her!
But she didn’t need
me. She dodged the attack. She continued to glare at Kyo.
“What?”
“You . . . You
cannot be proud of this power you’ve stolen from
another! However powerful it may make your attacks, it’s not your power to
begin with! You don’t know how to use it!” Rishia shouted, unsheathing her
sword.
“Ah, now I’m being
lectured by the baby in the room? Ahaha!” Kyo laughed and sent another stream
of pages to kill her.
There were a lot
more pages this time! There were so many of them, and they were moving so fast,
I wasn’t sure if even I could block them—and they were heading straight for
Rishia.
But she dodged
them, without making any unnecessary moves, and kept walking toward the
increasingly furious Kyo. Whenever she couldn’t dodge a page, she skewered it
on the point of her sword.
“Your attacks show
no consideration. They aren’t anything like Eclair’s, or Raphtalia’s, or
Filo’s. They are uninspired shows of force—nothing more.”
“Shut up!” He
shouted, suddenly offended. A vein stood out from his forehead, throbbing.
I couldn’t believe
it. I could hardly follow his attacks as it was, but Rishia read his every
move.
Her stats were very
low considering her level. Did that mean that this sudden display of skill was
all thanks to the Hengen Muso training? The old lady had said that Rishia had
innate potential. Had she finally realized it? It looked like she had gone
through some kind of awakening.
“Let’s see you
dodge this! Composition of Flame!” Kyo used something resembling a skill,
summoning a roaring flame shaped like a demon. The flame creature charged at
Rishia.
“Die!”
Her sword flashed,
cleaving the demon in two.
A split second
later, swords of ice came flying from the back of the room to nail the demon’s
body to the floor.
“Wh . . . What!?”
“You might think
you’re smart, but you always attack the same way. Your eyes tell me exactly
what you’re going to do!”
“Are you making a
fool of me? Take this!”
Kyo furiously used
another skill. He was so upset that he wasn’t thinking clearly. He could have
used his hostages, but he was too focused on trying to kill Rishia, who knocked
his skills away with the blade of her sword.
After Kyo powered
up, none of us stood a chance against him. But now Rishia, of all people, was
holding her own.
Kyo smiled. “You
almost had me coming to get you. But I have my hostages over here, so you’d
better just stay put. And after the power boost I just got, you’re only
delaying the inevitable. You can try to buy yourself time, but I’ll only keep
getting stronger.”
“When you realize
you can’t win, you turn back to your hostages,” Rishia said, her eyes cold.
She was like a
different person. And yet I could tell that the passion she was displaying,
this new persona, was who she really was.
“I . . . I don’t
have the strong will power that Naofumi does. And I don’t have the excellent
sense of purpose that Master Itsuki does. I’m not as kind as Motoyasu, and I’m
not as cool-headed as Ren.”
No . . . She was
wrong about that.
She selflessly
fought for others. After being saved herself, she knew what it meant to save
another. In truth, she was more selfless and caring than any of the heroes. At
the very least, she was more heroic than I was. And now she was holding her own
in battle.
She had thrown
herself into battle completely and was ready to sacrifice herself for the
chance to defeat Kyo. She’d done it without hesitation, just like Ost.
Maybe she was a
simple person, but she had all the passion to back up her decision. Her very
soul was shouting its resolve. She was enraged at the evil she’d seen. I had
never known there was a lion in her heart, slumbering this whole time. I never
would have even suspected it.
Her stats were so
low for her level that it had always seemed a little unnatural. And the old
lady had insisted on Rishia’s innate talents. She must have been right.
Everything unfolding before me at that moment proved it.
“I’m not as strong
as Raphtalia, and I don’t have Filo’s pure heart. I’m not talented with a sword
like Eclair, and I certainly don’t have the experience of the master.”
“Yeah, I get it
already. I’ve heard enough of your whimpering, little girl. Why don’t you just
get out of here? If you don’t, I’ll kill your hero friend.”
Rishia’s hand
filled with light, which shaped itself into a blade.
“But I . . . I . .
. I can beat you. I can beat you!” She shouted. Her conviction rang out through
the chamber. Then she turned, aimed, and threw the blade of light at the heroes
imprisoned on the far wall.
The blade didn’t
hurt them but burst into a warm, enveloping light that settled on their crystal
prisons.
The crystals
cracked.
“You! Argh! You let
them go?!”
“You’re next!
Hyaaa!” Rishia raised her sword and charged at Kyo.
Kyo raised his book
and used it to block Rishia’s sword. For a moment, their weapons were locked
together, neither one overpowering the other. Sparks flew.
“Who the hell are
you? Die already!” Kyo yelled, jumping back to get distance from Rishia. The
crackling barrier reappeared around him. It must have disappeared while he
attacked.
“You’re the one
that needs to give it up! You don’t have any hostages left!” L’Arc shouted,
standing before the collapsed heroes and brandishing his scythe.
Kyo smirked,
ignoring him. “Don’t you get it? This world is dying anyway. At least I’m
putting its energy to use! You’re fools for not understanding that!”
“YOU’RE the fool!
The vassal weapons decide what we can do and what we can’t do!”
L’Arc screamed, his
voice cracking with anger. I’d never heard him sound that way.
“Yeah, well I’m not
a slave to the vassal weapons. What does an object have to teach me about
anything?”
Damn. There wasn’t
much I could do to help.
While Liberation
Aura was still in effect, I could use the Shield of Wrath to cast Blood
Sacrifice and destroy the core, like Ost had suggested. If it didn’t work, I’d
be out of the battle for good. But with how things stood at the moment, I
didn’t see another way to win.
There was no way
out. I was actually impressed that we’d made it as far as we had.
I moved silently,
so that I wouldn’t draw the attention of Kyo, who was still in a shouting match
with L’Arc. Silently, I touched my shield and changed it into the Shield of
Wrath.
But the shield
wouldn’t let me!
“No. That shield
cannot break the core.”
I heard a
mysterious voice. I turned to its speaker and saw her there, struggling against
the cords of light that bound her. Her face bore the same pleading expression
she’d had when I first met her.
“So . . . It is
finally time for my remaining strength to find shape in the holy shield.”
The sound of
rushing wind filled my ears, and the shield in my hands changed shape.
Spirit Tortoise Heart
Shield conditions met
The information
appeared in my field of vision. I quickly knew that it was by far the best
shield I’d come across. I was shocked to see that it had already been powered
up to a certain extent.
Spirit Tortoise Heart
Shield (awakened) 80/80 AT
abilities unlocked: equip bonus: protection of
the dragons
special effect: gravity field, C soul
recovery, C magic snatch, C gravity shot
life-force up: magic defense (large),
lightning resistance, SP drain nullification, magic assistance, spell support
exclusive special effect energy blast 100%
mastery level: 100
The physical shield
looked a lot like the Whale Magic Core Shield. But the specifications were
incomparable. When I used the new shield, it changed the efficacy of protective
magic, and the shield’s stats rose to be more than twice the previous shield.
“Please . . . You
must defeat me . . .”
The shield’s
“energy blast” option was blinking. I felt like she was telling me to use it.
But . . . If I did
. . .
All the day’s
events came flooding back into my mind, and I realized with a shock that I’d
only been fighting with Ost for a single day. I felt as though we’d spent so
much more time together than that, which spoke to the depth of the difficulties
we’d faced together.
“Do not hesitate .
. . You must . . .”
“But If I . . .”
“If everything had
gone according to plan, we would not have met. The heroes would never learn
what the Spirit Tortoise really was, only of its role, and for that, they would
slaughter me without ever knowing my true form. I would have fulfilled my
purpose, only to disappear. That was our fate.”
I knew that. My
head told me that it was true. But my hands were shaking.
Of all those I’d
faced that could talk back to me, I’d only had to kill a few. Actually no, I’d
only killed the high priest. But we had never had a real conversation, much
less understood one other. He had simply tried to kill me.
When I fought him
and killed him, I told myself that it was in self-defense. That was how I’d
gotten through the shock of taking a life. So even though I knew what I’d done,
I had never had cause to regret it.
But if I used the
energy blast here, the Spirit Tortoise—Ost—would die.
And she’d do it for
the world. She’d die for us.
We’d fought
together. She was my friend. And when I thought of killing her, my emotions
didn’t want to accept it.
“Your hesitation is
touching. Possessor of the holy shield . . . Shield Hero, please . . . Help me
to fulfill my mission.”
“Aren't you upset
by your fate?”
People hated her.
They wished for her death. She was destined to be killed by heroes, the
embodiment of “justice.” It was too sad—too sad to bear.
“Upset? No, of
course not. I can nourish all the life in the world, helping it to thrive. I am
not sad.”
Even I felt like I
could understand the draw of sacrifice. But why? Could I really die for the
sake of others—without hesitation? I’d been framed for a crime, thrown out into
the streets penniless and alone. I’d hated the world with all my heart. And now
Ost’s sacrificial, selfless love was threatening to undo all of that pain.
“I know . . . I
know that you understand. If you did not, you would not have fought so long, so
hard, to stop me.”
I remembered how I
felt when Raphtalia and Filo believed in me, and I knew she was right. I wanted
to protect my friends. I wanted to protect the people that believed in me. I
understood what Ost meant. She was saying that that feeling extended to
everyone in the world.
“Now . . . I know it
is much to ask of you . . . but it is all that remains.”
“What the hell are
you doing?!” Kyo suddenly noticed me and sent a stream of pages flying straight
at me.
I blocked them with
my shield. I didn’t flinch. His attacks no longer bothered me.
“What? How did you
block that?! Whatever—you won’t stop this one!”
“No!” Rishia
shouted. “I will! The justice of which Master Itsuki speaks compels me to stop
you!”
She took aim and
threw her sword straight at Kyo.
“Ha! Good luck!
This barrier is stronger than it’s ever been—you’ll never get through it! It’s
more flexible than the last one! You don’t stand a chance!” Kyo shouted
condescendingly. He deployed a few pages to block the flying sword.
But the sword
pierced straight through them, hit the barrier, and kept on going.
“Damn! It’s so . .
. fast!”
The sword broke
through the barrier and sailed through the air. Then it landed, with a dull
thud, in Kyo’s chest.
“Ugh . . . You!”
It was time! I
turned to look at Ost. She nodded.
It felt like time
slowed down. It felt like only Ost and I could feel the seconds pass.
I held up the
shield and imagined the energy beam firing.
The shield sprouted
four legs to support its weight, and crosshairs appeared in the air before me.
Then it summoned an enormous amount of energy from around me and formed a ball
of crackling energy—the same energy the Spirit Tortoise had shot at us outside.
The shield grew
into a shape like the barrel of a gun, and a wing-like pedestal appeared behind
me. The crosshairs came into focus, and I set them on my target.
It was time. Time
to grant Ost’s final wish.
I nodded, and the
beam fired.
Everything went
white. I couldn’t see anything but the crackling energy.
“Damn! I don’t
think . . . !”
Kyo ran to block
the beam from hitting the core, but there was too much energy for him to stop
it, and it blew him out of the way.
“Aghhhhh!” He
climbed to his feet and ran to attack me directly. But before he could, the
barrier that he had been using appeared and . . . protected me instead!
“What? Not at a
time like this! Nooooo!”
The shield was
filled with the power of the Spirit Tortoise. The Spirit Tortoise’s
heart—Ost—protected me.
As long as we were
inside the Spirit Tortoise and I had that shield equipped, I couldn’t be hurt.
I had to use its
energy to break the Spirit Tortoise’s core—that’s what Ost wanted.
Then I . . . I had
to help her!”
“Ugh.”
The beam grew
stronger and wider. The barrier protecting the core cracked.
The crack widened,
and the beam burst through the opening, slamming against the next barrier. Then
it broke through that barrier and went on to the next.
Again and again,
the beam shattered the barriers in its way. Then, finally, it hit the core
itself.
There was a loud
piercing, shriek-like sound, and the core shattered into thousands of pieces.
The chamber was
bathed in blinding light, and I couldn’t see anything for a while.
Cough . . . Cough .
. .
The blast was very
powerful. I blinked to get my bearings. The chamber filled with light, but it
wasn’t the blinding light of the energy beam. No—it was light from outside.
The chamber was
silent. The projection on the wall that Kyo had used to monitor what was
happening outside had vanished.
A column of smoke
rose from my shield. The gun barrel shape that had appeared when I fired the
energy beam turned into glowing light before vanishing.
Finally, I saw my
friends lying on the ground, where they had ducked under the beam.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
“Kiddo.”
I smiled and waved
to them. “Alright, back on your feet. We still have work to do.”
The enemy wasn’t
gone yet. It wasn’t over.
“You!”
That’s right. The
enemy was still standing.
“You ruined my
plans! Ruined by the stupid Shield Hero!”
“Stupid? Coming
from you?”
“Yeah!” Rishia
shouted, running over to support me. A sphere of magic hovered over her
outstretched hand. She had defended herself against Kyo’s powered-up attacks
and had scored impressive critical hits against him, too. What had caused her
awakening? Her emotions? Her Hengen Muso training? She moved so quickly, so
fluidly.
“Come on everyone!
Let’s get rid of him once and for all!” Rishia shouted.
Raphtalia, Filo,
Eclair, the old lady, and then L’Arc, Glass, and Therese all readied their
weapons for a final face-off.
And then Ost
appeared behind me, wrapped in light.
“Ha! None of you
stand a chance against me, so you all have to team up. Is that it? What a
laugh! Oh well, I guess it’s time!” Kyo barked, a pained expression crossing
his face. He looked like he’d swallowed a bug.
“You’re not getting
out of this one. You’ll pay for your crimes with your life!”
“Will I? I’ve
already accomplished what I set out to do. A genius knows when it’s time to
step away.”
Soft light spiraled
into Kyo’s hands.
It looked like the
Spirit Tortoise’s energy!
I looked back at
Ost to find her trying to stretch out her arms, but she couldn’t move fast
enough.
Glass and Eclair
leapt at Kyo, but he was just a little too fast for them.
“Aha! You didn’t
think all the energy would disappear when you destroyed the core, did you? Too
bad! I developed this thing myself, so don’t expect that energy to return to
the earth! Ahaha!”
The energy formed a
ball in his hand, then floated into the air above him. It glowed with a faint
light before quickly condensing to form a ball of gravity so powerful that it
warped space and tore a hole in the air.
“Thanks for the
fun! Later!” Kyo shouted. He jumped into the hole and vanished.
But before he
vanished completely, he pointed Rishia and I and shouted, “I’ll kill you for
what you’ve done here. Prepare for your execution!”
He was really
pissing me off!
“Wait!” I ran after
him, but he vanished into the hole before I could catch up. I couldn’t let him
get away! If he escaped now, he’d only show up again later, even stronger. I
couldn’t let that happen!
When I reached for
the hole to chase after him, it sparked and repelled me.
Action not permitted.
Holy heroes are not allowed to invade another
world.
Invade? Another
world?
Did that mean that
the hole led to yet another world?
“Mr. Naofumi!”
“Naofumi!”
Raphtalia and
Rishia called after me
I turned to face
them, only to see Ost lying there, half transparent. She looked like she might
disappear at any moment. But she didn’t seem to be in any pain.
“Hey . . .” I tried
to protest, but there was no point. I’d destroyed the core, so it was only a
matter of time before Ost disappeared. We’d talked about it before I fired the
beam. There was no time to wallow in regret.
I had a
responsibility to her. I had to make sure I listened to her final words. I had
to make sure she left us without leaving anything unsaid.
On my way back to
Ost’s side, I passed L’Arc, Glass, and Therese. They were walking towards the
hole in the air, their weapons and arms outstretched.
“We will find out
where he has run to. Please wait for our return.”
“Alright . . .”
They would carry on
the investigation where I wasn’t able to follow. Glass had appeared through the
rifts that came with the waves, and so had L’Arc. They knew where they were
going.
I turned back to
Ost.
She wavered, like a
fragile mirage, but she looked satisfied.
“Thank you. Shield
Hero, you finally defeated me.”
“Don’t thank me. I
didn’t want to do this.”
I wasn’t happy at
all. I felt awful. I kept thinking of ways I could have changed things. My mind
flooded with “what ifs.”
“Ah . . . heh . . .
I thought you might say that. We didn’t have a lot of time together, but I feel
like I know you.”
“Shut up.”
“Mr. Naofumi, you
don’t need to speak that way . . .”
“You’re right. We
haven’t spent very much time together, but in that short time, I realized you were
a friend that I could trust.”
“A . . . friend? I
am destined to be destroyed by the heroes, but I became your friend instead?”
“That’s right. My
friend. Even if you are a crazy monster.”
She’d put herself
at risk to protect me in all the battles we’d faced together. I wasn’t sad to
lose her because of her skills. I was sad to lose her as a friend. That’s how
much I had come to trust her.
Damn it! Why was it
that every time I started to trust someone, they turned out to be my enemy?
“How’s the turtle
lady?”
“Filo . . . calm
down. Ost is finally free from her mission. We have to see her off—you see?”
Raphtalia said, patting Filo’s head. Filo was just starting to realize how sad
everyone looked.
Filo had been
pretty upset when our journey with Melty ended. I didn’t want to think about
how she would react to the death of a friend.
“Do we have to?”
“Yes.”
“Where are you
going?”
“Nowhere . . . I am
. . . part of the world.”
“Really?”
Ost smiled as she
cushioned the blow with kind lies.
Maybe they weren’t
lies.
She was the Spirit
Tortoise, a benevolent beast that absorbed sacrificed lives to protect the very
world itself. Maybe she really was part of the world. Maybe the world needed
her sacrifice to go on surviving.
“Please express my
gratitude to the queen of the filolials. It was because of her that we were
successful today.”
“Okay!”
Ost turned to
Rishia next.
“Thank you very
much. We were only able to destroy my core because you distracted the enemy.
Our success is due to your efforts, and the efforts of the queen of Melromarc.”
She was right about
that. It was Rishia and the queen that first realized the Spirit Tortoise was
the cause of the calamities. They were the ones that read through those thick,
ancient reports. We never would have made it this far without their research.
And of course,
Rishia’s actions during the final battle were decisive.
“Feh . . .”
“Don’t look so sad.
The Shield Hero is alive because of you. The power of your will, and your
passion, paved the way for our victory.”
“But I . . . I was never
able to help the way I wanted. I wish I were stronger. If I was the . . .”
Rishia looked even
sadder, more despairing, like she had after Itsuki expelled her from his party.
She thought that if only she’d been stronger, we’d have secured a better future
for ourselves. If only . . .
And so she faced
her regrets. Was there no other way forward? Did we have to overcome our
regrets to make progress? It sounds like a joke, but I was starting to realize
that it was true. There was nothing left to do now. There was nothing that
could change the harsh truth of what was happening.
People say that you
have to keep moving forward. But I was never going to forget what had happened
that day, and I felt like doubts and regrets would always plague me. It felt
like a curse, something I would always have to deal with. Ost—I mean, Spirit
Tortoise! Damn you!
I tried to hate
her, thinking it would alleviate my guilt. But it didn’t work. I had to accept
it.
“It is okay. I’m
happy. Besides, I was destined to stand against the heroes to guard the earth.
I’m supposed to be an enemy. Do not let my death sadden you.”
She was asking for
the impossible. How could she even ask that of us? Who could watch a friend die
without feeling sad?
“And if you have
the time to spend worrying about me, please, spend it on the heroes that were
held captive.”
“Oh! You’re right!
Master Itsuki!”
“I’ll accompany
you.”
“Me too!”
Eclair and the old
lady accompanied Rishia to go check on the other three heroes.
Ost had managed to
change the subject. I glared at her, and she smiled back at me.
Damn her! She had
such evil-looking eyes, but she was so selfless and pure. Why couldn’t she just
present herself honestly?
“Good, they’re
still breathing.”
“That doesn’t mean
they’re out of the woods yet. We better hurry! It could be a matter of life and
death.”
“I will try to
supply them with energy to help heal!”
Rishia and the
others looked after the three heroes.
They’d taken a real
beating, so I couldn’t say for sure, but still, those three seemed to survive
everything they went through. They would probably be fine.
“Ost, if you don’t
want people to be sad when you die, then you should treat them worse. Why can’t
you just pretend to be a jerk? Have you thought about how we are supposed to
move on after you’re gone?”
“I’m sorry. But if
I had done that, Shield Hero—no, Naofumi—could I have earned your trust?”
She hit me where it
hurt.
She was right, too.
With those eyes, if she had been nasty or cold, if she’d run around barking
orders at me, I never would have teamed up with her.
“I guess you’re
right.”
“Mr. Naofumi.
Please, think about the words you use,” Raphtalia said, chastising me. I guess
she was right—I shouldn’t criticize the personality of a dying woman.
“He got away.”
“Yes. That is my
one regret,” Ost said, nodding.
“I tried to follow
him through the portal, but it wouldn’t let me through. Do you know why?”
“The holy heroes
must protect this world. They are not allowed to invade other worlds. That is
the role of the vassal weapons.”
Were the vassal
weapons for invading? That didn’t sound like anything I’d heard before. Weren’t
the vassal weapons supposed to lend power to the holy weapons?
“Ost, it doesn’t
look like we have much time.”
“That’s correct. We
are almost out of time. I know it is impossible, but can I ask you to take care
of the enemy?”
“If I can find him,
then yes. If it’s within my power, I won’t let anyone that abused you walk
free.”
“That’s just like
you, Naofumi. You’re a kind person.”
“Yes, he is,”
Raphtalia agreed.
Ost continued. “If
you can find a way to reclaim the energy that man stole from us, then you may
be able to produce a barrier to buy yourself time in the next wave.”
“Is that really
possible?”
“Yes, it was
originally energy that I created. You will be able to absorb it with your holy
shield.”
The Spirit Tortoise
Heart Shield responded while she spoke.
If we could get the
energy back, we could create the barrier that the Spirit Tortoise was
originally trying to make.
“The hourglass
wasn’t full, so I do not know how much time it will buy you, but it should
extend the time until the wave comes.”
“That’s not a bad
idea.”
“And when I die,
the seal on the next benevolent creature—the Phoenix—will break.”
“Really?”
“Yes. The Phoenix
is an even more powerful guardian than I was. If the heroes are worn down, I do
not know if they will be able to survive the encounter.”
That didn’t sound
good.
How were we
supposed to fight a monster like that? The Spirit Tortoise Heart Shield gave me
access to the energy beam attack, which was certainly powerful. But I didn’t
know if it was possible to shoot more than one beam in a row.
“Therefore, I will
try to keep word of my death from reaching the Phoenix. That may buy you
additional time.”
“Thank you.”
“Do not thank me.
All of this is my fault. I never should have allowed myself to be taken over by
that man.”
“First things
first. We’ll try to get back the stolen energy—that will buy us some time,
right?”
Ost nodded and
reached out to touch my shield.
“The Spirit
Tortoise requests special approval. Allow the Shield Hero to pass through the
portal to another world.”
My shield reacted,
and a flashing icon appeared in my field of vision.
Special request
approved.
The holy heroes may now conditionally invade
other worlds.
“Now you should be
able to chase after him.”
“Thanks. I’ll see
to it that your wish is fulfilled. That guy won’t know what hit him!”
“Kiddo! That gate
is connected to our world now!”
“Oh yeah?”
“We’re going after
that guy. And when we find him, we’ll take back the energy he stole from this world’s
guardian beast.”
“This is all we can
do to demonstrate our sincerity. Please, wait for our return.”
L’Arc and Glass
were speaking to me from the entrance to the portal.
But I couldn’t
leave it like that. “Wait. We’re coming too. It’s not that I don’t trust you.
It’s that I want to do it myself.”
I knew that L’Arc
and Glass were powerful enough to follow through.
They were my
enemies, but I’d had enough experiences with them to know that they were
trustworthy.
I knew they were
powerful, but I didn’t know if they were powerful enough to take on that insane
man and win. So there was only one thing left for me to do—I had to go with
them.
“I don’t like
anything about that guy. I don’t like what he’s done, how he talks, how he
thinks. I want to make him pay for what he’s done to this world. That’s not all
though. I’m going to take back the energy he stole from you, and I’m going to
use it to buy us more time, before the next wave comes.”
“Thank you. Really.
Thank you.”
Ost was holding my
hand, but suddenly, I wasn’t able to feel her. I looked down to find that her
legs were already vanishing, dissolving into light.
We were out of
time.
“Ms. Ost!”
Raphtalia shouted.
Rishia heard
Raphtalia’s shout and came running over.
“Ost! Feh . . .
no!”
There was no time.
Ost smiled. She
looked happy. “Perhaps it isn’t fair, but I’m a little . . . glad.”
“Glad that you’re
leaving us?”
“No. I was fated to
destroy life, to be hated and scorned. People were to cheer when I died, and
yet here you are, sad to see me go. I cannot help but feel joyful.”
Her eyes brimmed
with tears.
Mine did too. Maybe
I was just tired.
Filo understood
what was happening, too. She wiped at her eyes with balled fists.
“So please
understand that this was all I could have hoped for. I was a scourge on the
earth, but here you stand, crying for me. It’s . . . I . . .”
Ost—the Spirit
Tortoise—dissolved into beads of light, leaving us with only her words: “If I
had another chance at life, I . . . would spend it . . . with you.”
She vanished,
leaving nothing behind.
And that was the
end of the Spirit Tortoise. It was extinguished along with the tortoise’s own
heart, with its soul.
“. . .”
There was nothing I
could do. I just stood there, watching the light filter in from outside,
through the hole I’d made using the energy blast.
The world asked for
sacrifices from everyone. It was a terrible place.
It summoned heroes
to save its people from the waves of destruction, and then it forced them to
fight.
If it meant saving
itself from the waves, the world would sacrifice all its life to the Spirit
Tortoise. And so to protect the lives of the people, we had to take the life of
the tortoise.
The tortoise even
begged us to kill it. The world begged the heroes to save it from the waves.
The world would sacrifice anything to save itself. It would sacrifice its life
to the tortoise or its heroes to the waves. Wasn’t there any other way to save
it?
I wanted to turn on
it, to scream at it, to yell that it wasn’t fair. But I knew it wouldn’t help.
I knew that I had to face the reality of what we’d done.
I didn’t want to
sacrifice myself for anything. I didn’t want to ask anyone else to sacrifice
themselves either.
That’s what heroes
were for—fighting. What did I know about people like Trash, who sat back in
safety while other people fought on their behalf?
The Spirit Tortoise
fought for the world. So did everyone who fought against the tortoise. Everyone
was fighting for what they believed in.
And I wasn’t going
to forget it.
“Kiddo!”
“We will soon close
the portal to our world. You must hurry!”
Glass and L’Arc
yelled.
Eclair shouted
back, “If we don’t get the heroes to a hospital soon, I cannot guarantee they
will survive!”
What should we do?
“We’re going after
him! Eclair, old lady—you two take the heroes to the closest hospital!”
“Understood! I will
tell the queen what has happened here!”
“Do so! Also, tell
her I’m sorry to leave her with all the clean-up.”
“Understood, Mr.
Iwatani. I expect to see you again, safe and sound.”
“You will. Oh, and
make sure you look after Keel too, okay?”
“Yes. He’ll be a
decent warrior by the time you return.”
I turned to
Raphtalia and Filo. They would have to serve as my attack squad.
“Mr. Naofumi, we’re
going, aren’t we?”
“Yeah. You’re
coming, right?”
“Of course! I’ll
always follow you!”
“I’m coming
toooooo! Imma kick that guy good—for the turtle lady!”
I liked Filo’s
enthusiasm.
“Alright! Let’s get
going!”
“Just a minute!”
shouted Rishia. “Please, take me with you.”
“I thought you
would want to watch over Itsuki’s recovery.”
“As you say, there
is a part of me that wants to remain and watch over Master Itsuki’s recovery.
But the sense of justice he instilled in me will not allow me to let that man
go! I must see to his punishment!”
Her emotions were
probably overpowering her judgment, and I wasn’t sure if she was strong enough
to make it back alive. But I wasn’t going to tell her she couldn’t come.
“I have to leave
Master Itsuki to bring justice to that man. I have to!”
Rishia had a power
that still slept within her, and she’d used it to get us out of a pinch in the
last battle. She might prove useful again. And besides, I’d promised her that
I’d help her get stronger. I couldn’t turn my back on her now.
“I get it.
Rishia—you come too.”
“Alright!”
“How long are you
going to keep us waiting? Hurry up!”
“We’re coming!
Everyone, goodbye!”
And so we joined
forces with L’Arc and the others to chase after Kyo, in hopes that we might
recover the energy he stole from our world.
We were about to
enter the portal connected to the world that Glass was from.
What would be
waiting for us on the other side?
What were the
waves?
What was this other
world?
I didn’t know the
answers, but I knew the name of my enemy.
I knew his face. I
knew his voice. I knew what he’d done.
I knew what to do.
There was only one
thing to do—I had to kill him.
I was the Shield
Hero, so I couldn’t do it on my own. But I wasn’t alone.
If I couldn’t swing
my fist, one of my friends would step in on my behalf—and I would be there to
protect them.
In the end, we were
coming back with everything he stole from the Spirit Tortoise—with everything
he stole from my friend Ost!
We slipped through
the portal to take back what was ours and entered a new world.
“Naofumi Iwatani,
the possessor of the holy shield . . . and of a kind heart . . .”
A spirit floated in
the air above where the Spirit Tortoise’s body lay.
“Please save the
lives of this world, just as you saved mine.”
The queen of the
filolials stood back to watch it.
A small rift to
another world opened, became a pillar of light, and flew away.
Fitoria, the queen
of the filolials, clasped her hands in prayer and watched it sail away. The
soul of the Spirit Tortoise watched with her.
“I hope the Shield
Hero’s destination is a fortunate one.”
“Thank you,
Naofumi, the Shield Hero. Had I the opportunity, I’d protect you with this
world. For what it’s worth . . . someday . . . together.”
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