by Aneko Yusagi
“Weren’t they sort of strong though? I mean, they WERE the island bosses.”
“Really?”
What was that supposed to mean. They’d thought those monsters were strong? That didn't bode well.
“Anyway, let’s go.”
In the end, we all jumped into the water to go to the water temple, but when Ren tried to swim a clanging sound indicated that he wasn’t able to. He finally admitted that he didn’t know how. Luckily enough there was a convenient magic spell that enabled him to breath underwater for an hour, so we were able to get him down to the temple in the end.
One of the magic-using castle soldiers came with us just to confirm the existence of the hourglass.
Unfortunately the magic wasn’t for use in battle, so it wasn’t effective if you moved too quickly. That meant it didn’t work where the current was strong or when the water got too deep.
The spell stopped working pretty much immediately when we got down to the temple. Had it cut out any earlier, Ren would have drowned.
Motoyasu and Itsuki had a blast laughing at the pekkul kigurumi, but Ren didn’t make any jokes about them at all.
So we began to prepare for the approaching wave.
“So there aren’t any sailors?’
“Not really.”
We were talking strategy with the earl and the soldiers the castle had sent, and there weren’t any sailors in the bunch.”
I didn’t think that the heroes were going to be very much help during the battle this time, so I was going to be acting as commander of the troops. I was hoping that some actual commanders of actual wars would be around to help.
“There are a number of sailors here on the islands that can help, but it doesn’t look like the castle is going to be able to send us much more support. The army commander has agreed to help, but they were hoping that a hero would come to the castle as a representative.”
“Heh. I’ll see what I can do.”
A hero could go back to the castle and still be transported here for the wave as long as they had registered the location.
But who knew if they would be able to prepare the boats and troops in time.
“If the battle will be on the ocean, then we won’t be able to evacuate, which means we won’t need troops for that job.”
“We are planning on the battle taking place on the sea.”
“I’ll leave that up to you then. Who knows what sort of monsters will come out of the water though, so make sure you stay on your toes.”
“Very well. We also have rucolu explosive barrels prepared. Normally they are banned due to fishing laws.”
“Rucolu barrels?”
“Yes. Barrels filled with rucolu that we detonate in the water. It turns the water into alcohol and kills any monsters in the area.”
Heh. I wasn’t able to attack myself, so it was always interesting to hear the sorts of offensive measures that people came up with.
That was one that I’d never considered.
If that worked, it sounded like it would probably come in handy.
“What about the adventurers in town? Some of them are probably itching for a battle anyway.”
“Huh? Oh yeah, good idea. Just make sure you pick good ones.”
There was no reason to try and fight the battle with soldiers alone. When I had been in the first wave, a lot of adventurers had helped out. We needed to use whatever resources we had if we wanted to survive.
The fact that the islands were in the middle of an activation event was sort of good news for us, because it meant there would be more high-level adventurers in town.
“The orders have already been sent out.”
“Thanks.
I thought back about the last wave we’d fought it. If this one was anything like the last time, there was a good chance we would run into Glass again.
We’d leveled up a lot in the interim though.
I really wanted to think that we were powerful enough to win this time, but I couldn’t pretend that was a done deal. She’d been very powerful.
That evening, we went around the island and posted flyers to recruit adventurers.
We appealed to people that wanted to level up in the wave and test themselves.
I was waiting at the dock for a ship to arrive with supplies when L’Arc and Therese showed up.
“Hey, Shield Kiddo. Where are you off to?”
“Nowhere fun. Unfortunately this is all work.”
In the end, I’d been chosen to go back to the castle and register the queen and her troops for teleportation. We’d discussed just sending for more troops, but there wasn’t enough time for them all to get here. So we would have to use the teleport skill at the hourglass.
Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield conditions met!
Dragon Hourglass Sand Shield: ability locked: equip bonus: skill “Portal Shield.”
The problem was that the activation event had rendered the teleportation impossible.
According the Motoyasu and the others, the first teleportation point was the room where we were first summoned. So if I left the range of the activation event, I’d be transported to the castle to add the queen to our formation.
“Still, I’ll be fighting in the wave.”
I sighed. I really didn’t want to fight if I didn’t have to, but I didn’t really have a choice.
“Oh hey, now that you mention it, we signed up to battle in the wave too!”
“Oh yeah?”
I knew I could depend on them. They were powerful enough to take out the waves of lesser monsters on their own.
I was glad to hear they were going to help. It would make it all a little easier.
“The bracelet that you made me can shoot fire!”
Therese was clearly still excited by it all.
“She still hasn’t calmed down about it.”
I was glad that she liked it, but if she didn’t take the battle seriously she’d end up dead—and that wouldn’t help any of us.
“I’ll see you in the wave then.”
“Glad to fight with you again, kiddo.”
“We’re counting on you.”
“No problem!”
We boarded a boat headed for Melromarc harbor and set off into the night.
The ship was actually really crowded. Apparently there were plenty of people that had heard the wave was coming, and they were trying to get off the islands before they got mixed up in the chaos.
Still, at least we’d been given a private room this time, so it was an easier journey than the trip over had been.
Every once and a while I would try to use the Portal Shield skill, but it wasn’t working yet.
The sun had sunk long ago, and we were getting into the later hours of the evening when…
“Portal Shield!”
This time, the icon indicating that it wasn’t going to work vanished, and I was able to shout out a destination or choose from a list of registered places.
Teleport ↑
Teleport location memory.
Be conscious of teleportation.
Melromarc, Summoning Room.
I assumed it was the room I’d originally been summoned to—what else could it mean?
A circle appeared around me on the ground, indicating the range of the spell.
I could select who else would be teleported with me. Which meant I could also select who DIDN’T get teleported.
But the range of the skill was actually really big. Why couldn’t it just be people I was touching, or something like that? It was probably so that the spell could be used as an emergency escape measure.
When the high priest had trapped the other heroes, why hadn’t they used it?
“Alright, I’m using the teleport skill.”
“Okay!”
The words “Melromarc, Summoning Room” appeared in the air before me, and the same time a ghostly, half transparent view of the room also came into view.
I recognized it as the room I’d been summoned to a
ll those months ago.
“Alright!”
I pulled Raphtalia and Filo over to where I was standing and activated the skill on the deck of the boat.
There was a swift rush of wind, and the scenery around us instantly changed. We were in a dark room that smelled of dirt.
I remembered having stood in that same place.
The room was empty. I guess they weren’t in the middle of a ceremony though, so I should have expected that.
“Amazing. That was instantaneous.”
“Wow! We’re back at the castle!”
“It sure looks like it.”
“Mel-chan!”
Filo skipped merrily out of the room.
We called to some soldiers that had been posted in the hallway and requested an audience with the queen.
They had already received word from the islands, and the queen had been waiting for us.
We spent the night at the castle, and when morning came we immediately began preparing for the wave.
The queen had prepared a whole warehouse full of the materials I’d requested before leaving for the islands. She said she would continue to have more sent to us for the duration of our stay on Cal Mira.
“Then I won’t hold back in using them.”
I’d been thinking that I hadn’t powered up enough anyway.
Still, I hadn’t run into any real trouble while we’d been leveling up, which made me think that my previous power up session had been very useful.
I picked out the shield I wanted to use during the wave.
Soul Eater Shield (awakened) +6 35/35 SR: abilities locked: equip bonus: skill “second shield” spirit resistance (medium), spirit attack resistance (medium) SP up: special effect soul eat SP recovery (weak), drain null, wall escape, undead control
mastery level 60: item enchantment level 7 SP 10% up
porcupine spirit counter efficacy up defense 50
status enchantment strength 30+
After powering up the shield I could hardly believe how powerful it had become. It was now even stronger than the Chimera Viper Shield.
Maybe it’s because I got the shield from the last wave boss, but it seemed to respond more dramatically to powering up.
The special effects drain null, wall escape, and undead control all appeared once the shield was awakened.
Wall escape meant that you could pass through solid objects, but to pass through a single wall would use the entirety of your SP points. I’d also only tried it on a very thin wall, and I’d barely made it through, so I was a little worried about what would happen were I to try using it on a thicker wall. Undead control, I assumed, would allow the user to control undead-type monsters. I’d have to try it out to be sure though.
According to the numbers, my defense stat was now four times higher than it had been.
Finally, even though I would only use it if I were absolutely forced to, I decided to try powering up the Wrath Shield.
I really wanted to avoid using it if possible, since I was still cursed from the last time.
I’d healed a lot since then, but I still wasn’t back to normal.
Wrath Shield III (Awakened) +7 50/50 SR: abilities locked: equip bonus: skill “change shield (attack)”, “iron maiden”, “blood sacrifice”
special effect: dark curse burning S, strength up, dragon rage, howl, familial rage, magic sharing, robe of rage (medium)
Mastery Level 0
Apparently you could use items or spirit enchantments on shields that hadn’t been unlocked yet. It was the same for the mastery level. I don’t think it was even possible to unlock the Wrath Shield.
But the stat books were impressive.
If I switched to it in battle, I felt like it would completely take over my consciousness, which scared me.
Morning came, and the timer flashing in my periphery was much lower than it had been.
00:20
I think I’d done all I could by way of preparation.
The other heroes should be waiting on the boat. The only question left was where we would be teleported to.
Just to be safe I had a boat prepared for us and ordered it set aside in a nearby river. It was a small thing, only useful in a river, and it wasn’t outfitted with sails.
But that just meant that we could shave off all the time it would take to load a larger boat.
“Mr. Naofumi?”
Raphtalia came walking over with the queen.
“Mr. Iwatani, the preparations are complete.”
“Is this your first time participating in a wave battle?”
“I have participated in a battle before, but it was in a different country. I have a basic understanding of the battle strategy.”
“Great.”
“Yes. While it is still a little early for this type of thing, perhaps we should do something to raise the morale of the gathered troops?”
She was right.
If the soldiers weren’t fully motivated, then there would be more casualties than necessary.
“Everyone! We must keep the destruction to an absolute minimum during the battle!”
“Yes my queen!”
The gathered crowd snapped to attention when the queen spoke.
I hoped the other heroes were doing something similar.
00:10
There were ten minutes left.
“Now it comes down to location. Will we be on the ocean or on an island?”
We didn’t know exactly what we were going to be facing. That was why we needed to prepare for all possibilities.
“Fighting on the sea may prove difficult.”
“I know.”
We didn’t really have any experience fighting on the water yet.
I imagined that simply swinging a sword through the water would be more difficult than we might expect. If so, we’d have to try using other weapons.
As for Filo, I’d seen her take out monsters in the water before, so I was pretty confident about her abilities.
If we were in the water, then we didn’t even have the ground to depend on. An attack could come from any direction.
I was hoping that I could use shooting star shield to buy us some time, but I didn’t know if it would be effective against the powerful monsters that tended to appear during the waves.
“Raphtalia’s right. This might be a really tough battle.”
“If only Sadeena were here. She’d know what to do.”
“Who’s that?”
“She fished for my village. She was like an older sister to me.”
“Oh yeah? Was she a good swimmer?”
“She was the best in the village.”
“Was she the same type of demi-human as you?”
“No . . . she was an aquatic type.”
I could picture it now. She would have had unique swimming skills. Raphtalia was right. I wished Sadeena were here.
But this was no time for daydreaming.
“I hope she’s still alive.”
“Me too.”
I forced the thought out of my mind. We had other things to focus on now.
The time was almost here. I raised my hand and made an announcement.
“If we end up on land then your priority is to split up and protect the civilians. If we end up on the ocean, then we need to get to the larger ships and support the heroes!”
“Yes sir!”
I turned to Raphtalia and Filo.
“This is the third wave we’ve fought in. Let’s power through! Everything will be fine!”
“Yes! And we’ll keep the casualties to an absolute minimum!”
“Imma do my best!”
Chapter Eleven: Inter-dimensional Whale
00:00
The timer ran out.
At the same time, our surroundings all disappeared, and for a second it was like I was floating in the air.
A clanging sound came from the boat.
A second later and my periphery was filled with other boats, many of them, and we
were floating in the ocean.
So it would be an ocean battle. I looked towards the rifts that had appeared in the sky. They marked the presence of the wave of destruction.
The sky was violet, and warped, and covered with fine cracks.
“Hurry! We have to get to the larger ships!”
The queen shouted the order, and the knights and soldiers on board began rowing furiously, bringing us up to the side of a larger ship nearby. We all climbed out and boarded.
Filo was in her filolial form, and Raphtalia and I climbed on to her back, then she jumped up on to the deck, delivering us to the ship in one fell swoop.
The heroes where standing on the deck and staring off in the direction of the rifts.
I could hardly believe my eyes. One of Itsuki’s party members was standing there in a risuka kigurumi, a different colored Santa hat on his head.
I knew I shouldn’t worry about it, but I couldn’t stop staring!
“Fueee . . . .”
Large, intimidated eyes gazed out from the kigurumi. But, which one of his party members had eyes like that? It must have been that Rishia girl.
Anyway, the pekkul kigurumi had come with great stat boosts and abilities, so the risuka version probably did too. It wasn’t so strange to imagine her wearing it for a major battle. At first glance it looked like they weren’t taking it seriously though.
“What’s happening?”
“It just started so we don’t really know yet, but I’ve seen monsters start to come out of the rifts.”
Itsuki said and pointed to the rifts in the sky.
It looked like giant fish, or something like fish, were streaming from the rifts.
I had expected birds or something like that. So I guess this was better in a way.