The Rising of the Shield Hero Vol 08

by Aneko Yusagi

  Good. As long as it wasn’t after Raphtalia.

  “Mr. Naofumi!” she shouted, brandishing her katana and rushing at the tiger.

  “Crescent Moon Sword!”

  A flash of light like a crescent moon shot from her sword and tore the skin from the tiger’s back.

  “... !”

  I stopped Trash #2’s katana with my shield, and the Nue Shield’s counter-attack triggered, activating Lightning Shield (medium).

  “Wha... Ahhhhh!”

  Electrocuted, Trash #2 dropped his katana and jumped away from me.

  “What the... ? What are you?! How did you stop my attack?!”

  “You’re just now figuring this out?”

  He must have thought I was a MOB.

  MOB was a term we used in the online games I used to play to refer to weak or backup players.

  He must have been shocked to discover that my defense was actually much higher than an MOB. Who’s a weak backup now!?

  “It’s that freaky shield you’ve got! I know you’re friends with the thieves, but tell me your name!”

  He was talking nonsense again. I ignored him and looked for Kizuna. She was struggling in a battle with one of Trash #2’s women.

  “Kizuna, leave the humans up to Glass or me!”

  “That’s what I was thinking! Do you mind?”

  “I don’t like to receive orders from Naofumi, but he happens to be correct. L’Arc, Therese, come with me!” Glass announced.

  “Got it!”

  “Understood. It’s necessary so that Kizuna can best command her skills.”

  “Great power in these stones, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite, and I am your friend. Lend me the power to destroy them!”

  “Fusion Technique: Burning Disc!”

  “Fusion Form: Reverse Burning Snow Moon Flower!”

  Glass’s and L’Arc’s skills combined, forming a burning flame that sent the woman who was attacking Kizuna flying.

  “Gyahhhhhh!”

  But it wasn’t enough to kill her. She slowly tottered back to where Trash #2 was standing and started to cast healing magic on herself.

  We just weren’t strong enough to finish them off.

  “These guys are tougher than I thought. Don’t give up yet, Kiddo!”

  “Who’s giving up? I’m taking care of the weak ones, so I guess I might get a bit careless.”

  “What was that? I’ll show you!” Trash #2 complained. I didn’t care.

  Even after seeing his skill with the sword, it was still clear to me that the White Tiger copies were the greater threat.

  Glass and L’Arc held vassal weapons from this world, so they were really powerful. I’d seen their strength firsthand back in the Cal Mira islands. When we ran into them during the Spirit Tortoise incident, they’d had weakened somewhat. But they were definitely much stronger now that they were back in their own world.

  “Tell me your name!” Trash #2 shouted angrily.

  “Calm down a bit, will you? If you want to know that badly, I’ll tell you. I’m the Shield... Hero. I’ve got this shield, but all I can do with it is defend people. My name is Naofumi Iwatani. I’m from another world.” Hearing myself say it all felt strange... I was the Shield Hero from another world who came from another world... How many worlds were there now? Whatever—it was the truth.

  “What? There’s no such thing as a holy shield! Stop with this drivel!”

  "Then don't ask me!”

  I didn’t care if he believed me. Actually, the less he knew about the Shield Hero, the better.

  “Listen up! We’re focusing on this guy for now!”

  “Okay!” the flock of women shouted in unison.

  Well, well. Let’s see... Kizuna was dealing with the tigers.

  He probably wanted to use the tigers to fight Glass and L’Arc, since they were the strongest. Then he would focus on killing me, since I was defending everyone. His ultimate goal was to kill Raphtalia and take back the katana she held. It was a decent plan, but he wasn’t going to get past me.

  “Shooting Star Shield!”

  The barrier appeared around my party.

  “Mr. Naofumi...”

  “We’ll be fine. Rishia, Filo—watch out.”

  “They won’t catch meeeee!”

  “Good.”

  “Feh...” Rishia whimpered, but she held an ofuda, ready to attack.

  Everything looked good.

  Actually, come to think of it, Trash #2 was really proud of himself for casting spells without incantations, but couldn’t anyone do that if they used ofuda?

  “Heh! Now I’ll show you what I can really do!” he said, pulling out an ofuda.

  Was he trying to pretend that he’d been holding back?

  He obviously wasn’t as strong as Kyo—so why would he bother holding back?

  I had Rishia, Filo, and the vassal weapons on my side. If he didn’t pull out all the stops, he was going to end up dead.

  His reinforcements would show up before too long. It was time to end this.

  “Let’s go!”

  Trash #2 focused his magic power on the ofuda in his hand while he sent spells at us without chanting their incantations.

  “Now! Air Strike Shield!”

  Right before he could shoot a spell at us, I deployed Air Strike Shield directly in front of him. He always attacked so directly, throwing his spells in perfectly straight lines. I couldn’t wait to see how he reacted to this.

  “Wh—”

  The spell slammed into the shield and exploded in his face.

  “Ahhhh!” Caught up in the flames, he screamed and jumped away.

  Ha! It worked even better than I’d anticipated. Glass or L’Arc wouldn’t have had any trouble dodging it.

  “You! You... fool!” Trash #2’s friends all brandished their weapons at us.

  “Second Shield!”

  I formed another shield to protect us and then quickly looked to Filo.

  Knowing what I meant, she nodded and began to chant an incantation.

  “I’m Filo, the source of all power! Hear my words and heed them. Wrap them in a fierce tornado and blow them away!”

  “Zweite Tornado!”

  The name of a newly available skill appeared in my field of vision. I’d used it before. It was a combo skill that had some offensive capability.

  “Tornado Shield!”

  A shield of howling wind appeared before the charging women, and when they recklessly attacked it, they triggered a counter-attack.

  “Ahhhhhh!” they shouted.

  A huge tornado spiraled out from the shield and pulled the women into it, and they went spiraling up into the sky.

  “Mr. Naofumi! I’m going in!”

  Just when I was about to suggest that Raphtalia cast an illusion spell, she charged straight for Trash #2.

  “No matter how many times we have tried to reach an agreement, you continue to thirst greedily for this weapon. I cannot tolerate it any longer. This comes to an end now,” she yelled. She drew the katana, held it out horizontally, and then shouted a skill.

  “Powder Snow!”

  “Wha—”

  The blade sliced and the impact exploded with blood.

  She spun the sword to throw off the blood that clung to the blade. Then she turned it to face his crowd of supporters.

  Trash #2 knocked backward at the waist after receiving such a skilled attack. But then the skill’s effect became clear.

  “Ah?!”

  A fine snowy powder erupted from the opening of the cut she’d made, filling the air and turning everything white.

  What the... ? It was... snow?

  The snow melted a moment later, and Trash #2 tottered back upright.

  "That was... pretty good... You stole... stole the source of my magic power.”

  The skill must have turned the magic power of whomever it cut into snow.

  Trash #2 gripped an earth crystal that must have had restorative propertie
s. He was trying to heal himself.

  I wouldn’t let him. I walked over and grabbed the crystal from his hand.

  “Don’t you touch that! I...”

  He swung his sword at me, but I blocked it, and once again, Lightning Shield (medium) activated and electrocuted him.

  His wound was... Yes, his wound was still open.

  It hadn’t cut him too deeply. I guess the skill was more focused on robbing the enemy of magic power than on dealing damage directly.

  “Master!”

  The reinforcements had arrived and were starting to surround Filo and Rishia.

  Glass and the others were slowly hacking through the White Tiger copies, but more and more of them kept appearing.

  Amidst it all, one person was acting strangely—Kizuna.

  She kept randomly swinging her fishing rod and hitting the tigers with the lure.

  Glass and L’Arc weren’t focusing on attacking the tigers; they were clearly focusing on defense. The tigers appeared to be ignoring Kizuna for some reason.

  I wondered if monsters had a kind of instinctual fear of the Hunting Hero.

  Kizuna’s lure hit Trash #2 next, but nothing happened.

  “Naofumi, don’t attack anything my lure has touched until I say so, okay?”

  “Ah, alright. But...”

  What was she up to? I was guessing it was a skill that lowered their defense or something, but I wasn’t sure.

  “Grrrraaaw!”

  A particularly large tiger appeared in the middle of the prowling pack of monsters.

  Was it their leader? No... I’m sure that Trash #2 was controlling them, so that would make him the leader.

  Regardless, there was no doubt that the strongest White Tiger copy yet had just joined the fight.

  Chapter Seventeen: Blood Flower Strike

  “Hey, that one looks pretty tough. Alright, let’s do this Glass.”

  “Yes!”

  “Right on! I haven’t seen Kizuna’s skills in a long time,” L’Arc added.

  “Kizuna, it’s all in your hands now. Phantasm!” Glass shouted, slapping open her fans and using a skill that filled the air with dancing flower petals. Delicate cherry blossoms flit on the wind, making everything look pink and fantastical.

  The tigers swayed on their feet, their eyes rolling around in their heads. The skill must have made them dizzy.

  What was going on? What was the plan?

  “Here I go!” L’Arc shouted, throwing his scythe. A tornado erupted from where it landed.

  The howling winds appeared to make Glass’s skill even more effective.

  “Oh power in these stones, here my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite, and I am your friend. Give me the strength to stop them!””

  “Shining Stones! Paralysis Wing!”

  Butterflies flapped out from her hands and joined the howling winds and flower petals.

  The tigers lost their momentum, slowed, and then came to a complete stop.

  “It’s a little tricky to stop so many of them at once. This would have been over a long time ago if there had only been one,” Kizuna said, turning her weapon into the tuna knife.

  “But it’s the end now—and we have won. Behold the true power of the Hunting Hero,” Glass declared.

  “Naofumi... Actually, Raphtalia, we’ll need your help, too. When the attack happens, you go after the strong one that Naofumi is holding.”

  “Alright,” Raphtalia said, turning to face Trash #2. I still had him cornered.

  Then Kizuna held her tuna knife like Raphtalia held her sword, took a breath, and ran for the tigers. In a flash, she was already done with them.

  “Instant Blade: Mist!”

  “Hunting Skill: Blood Flower Strike!”

  Raphtalia held the katana in both hands and flew at Trash #2.

  “What?!”

  “What is it?”

  “The blade... It feels strange—like it cut unnaturally deep.”

  Trash #2 stopped trying to wiggle free from my grasp. I let him go.

  He shook and shivered, and his face grew pale.

  “Ugh...”

  “Oh, it will hurt worse if you move. You should stay still,” Kizuna added, tapping the frozen White Tiger copy with the tip of her tuna knife before returning to where Glass and her friends were standing.

  I hadn’t seen the attack at all, but suddenly all of the tigers collapsed, falling into bloody chunks.

  The air was thick with the scent of blood.

  The sprays of blood hung in the air, like red flower petals to match the pink ones.

  Kizuna’s skill was aptly named—it really did look like flowers of blood.

  Trash #2’s women and his backup troops stared at us speechlessly. They must have realized that if Trash #2 moved at all, he would fall apart into bloody chunks, just like what had happened to the tigers.

  “I don’t believe it! How could you defeat our most powerful weapons so easily? It’s impossible! Impossible!”

  One of the women pointed and shouted, “And by the weakest of the heroes, no less!”

  Kizuna rolled her eyes.

  I knew how she probably felt. I was used to people saying the same kind of things about me. I guess people only respected you if you could fight against other people.

  “Do you even know anything about the Hunting Hero? I’m sure you realize that all the heroes have their specialties...”

  That’s right. Kizuna had said something about that. She couldn’t attack people, but she made up for that with her special abilities against monsters.

  “I may not be able to fight with other people, but that doesn’t mean I can’t fight. If you don’t learn to separate rumors from fact, you’ll end up dead.”

  The crowd of reinforcements started to murmur among themselves.

  It was amazing. Glass and her friends had been struggling against those tigers for the whole fight, and Kizuna took them all out with a single attack. She was terrifying!

  Looking back on the time we’d spent together, I couldn’t think of a single time I’d seen her struggle in battle, except for when we were faced with human opponents. She had always defeated monsters without breaking a sweat.

  I hadn’t realized how terrifying my travel companion really was!

  I wonder if she felt the same way about me—after all, I was a holy hero, too.

  I couldn’t do much by way of attack, but when it came to defense, I was far more impressive than anyone else I’d met.

  I’d survived the Spirit Tortoise’s main attack—wasn’t that proof enough?

  Just like me, Kizuna couldn’t attack humans, but when it came to attacking monsters, she was the most powerful person around. I was actually grateful that her specialty wasn’t the opposite... What if there was a holy hero out there that was specialized in fighting people? Wouldn’t that be terrifying?

  “Alright then... You’ve seen how easily we defeated your commander and your strongest weapons. Don’t you think it would be best for you to let us go free?” Kizuna said, twisting her tuna knife so it flashed in the sun.

  “Feh...”

  “Rishia, Kizuna’s on our side. Don’t be scared.”

  “Mr. Naofumi, your new friend is really something...”

  “I guess so.”

  “Rafu?”

  Raph-chan had kept quiet during the battle. Or I guess she did try to protect Rishia.

  That was fine. I had never expected her to be much use in battle.

  On the other hand, I had seen Glass and Kizuna’s shikigami, Chris, doing all it could to protect them during the battle. I still didn’t have a firm grasp on what they could do, though—I’d been too occupied dealing with Trash #2.

  “Raphtalia, your attack was really impressive, too. You must have gotten stronger since I saw you last.”

  “Do you think so? I’ve been so busy since I got here that I haven’t had the time to stop and reflect on it.”

  That attack of hers was really somet
hing. I was sure of it.

  It was certainly strange that she’d been chosen by the katana, but it was starting to feel like destiny now. She’d really handled herself well in the battle.

  She must have been through so much since we’d been split up, because she seemed more skilled than she had been. If we had to split up again, I wondered if she’d develop bulky muscles or something.

  “You’re thinking about something rude again, aren’t you?”

  “No. I was just thinking about how strong you’ve become and how dependable you’ve become.”

  “Oh... Well... What should we do now?” Raphtalia asked, staring at the katana in her hands.

  It was a good question. Once we got back to the world we’d come from, was it safe to walk around with such a valuable weapon?

  “Naofumi? Aren’t you going to absorb some of these White Tiger parts?”

  “Yeah, yeah, of course. But I’ve got a hostage here, so I can’t move yet,” I said, looking back and forth between Trash #2 and his women and the backup troops.

  He must have been a pretty important person, because everyone seemed stunned by his capture. They clearly had no idea what to do. They knew that if they tried anything funny, he’d split in two at the waist—Trash #2 seemed to realize that he couldn’t move at all.

  “Take a good hard look at him. If you stay after us, you’ll end up the same way,” I said, squeezing in one last threat.

  “Mr. Naofumi, you love doing that, don’t you? Threatening people.”

  “If they don’t really feel scared, these underlings of his will never learn.”

  “Sigh... I supposed you’re right. It seems there are people like him no matter where we go...” Raphtalia murmured.

  She was right. He reminded me of the other heroes back in our world—or of Trash #1.

  “Alright, we have your vassal weapon. This whole debacle is because of his foolish recklessness. Don’t forget that.”

  Didn’t anyone in this world care about the holy heroes?

  Didn’t they respect Kizuna at all?

  I guess I’d been through something similar back in the last world. There must have been people that didn’t believe in, or trust, the heroes. You didn’t want to get captured by people like that.

  I walked over and absorbed the White Tiger parts into my shield, keeping an eye on the soldiers that hesitantly ran over to rescue Trash #2. We had what we needed, so we left. On our way out, I saw the gaggle of women casting healing spells on him. He would be fine... maybe.