by Aneko Yusagi
There was another spray of blood, and the whale’s left flipper went flying. Her attack was really something.
But had L’Arc just done in one hit what had taken Filo this whole time to accomplish?
The whale started to twitch.
“Time to finish it! I’m going in!”
“Yes!”
L’Arc looked to Therese.
“Shining stone! Thunder rain!”
“Combo skill. Thunder rain flying circle!”
Therese’s magic lightning struck L’Arc’s scythe, and it seemed to charge it with energy. Raising the charged weapon, he shot a circle of light at the whale. Filo flapped her wings and attacked at the same time.
“Spiral strike!”
Their attacks hit at nearly the same time.
The whale was split into two pieces.
“ . . . !”
It gave a final silent scream, and then died.
“Well that about does it, eh?”
L’Arc was standing on the corpse of the whale, pleased with himself.
“You guys sure are powerful.”
Honestly, they were better fighters than Motoyasu was. How strong were they?
Something was strange. Had they been that powerful when we were all fighting together a few days ago?
I’d thought they were strong at the time, but I’d only thought they were strong for adventurers.
Motoyasu was as confused as I was.
“I tried real hard!” chirped Filo.
“Yeah, you did.”
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia was waving at me from the deck.
“Excellent. Now we just need to attack the rifts and end this thing.”
I motioned to the queen so that she would command the ships to depart for the rifts.
But I heard a clang of metal on metal, and I felt eyes on me. I turned around.
It was L’Arc. He held his scythe out towards me and was grinning at me suspiciously.
Chapter Twelve: L’Arc Berg
Therese magically floated over and stood next to him.
“What’s this about?”
I glared at them.
“Oh man. I really didn’t think that you were the Shield Hero, kiddo.”
“I told you so many times.”
“You’re right, you did. But I figured you shouldn’t judge a book by its cover, you know? Kiddo. Or should I call you Naofumi?”
“Whatever you want. What are you up to?”
“Huh? Oh, I want you to know that I don’t have anything against you personally.”
“That’s right. I don’t either. I’m very sorry that things need to be this way, but . . . .”
I was getting a really bad feeling about this.
But I’d harbored doubts about that giant scythe of his for a while. Now I think I was finally getting my answer.
“We have to do it for the good of our world. You’ve got to die.”
He moved so fast it was unbelievable. Before I could even see what was happening his scythe was slicing through the air.
Without thinking, I reacted. I guessed where the scythe would land and readied my shield to block it.
“Heh! You’re pretty quick, kiddo.”
“What are you doing?!”
‘What are you doing to my master?!”
Filo jumped up and ran to attack them, but I held out a hand to stop her.
I don’t know why I stopped her. I felt like if she made a little mistake, she wouldn’t get out of it alive.
“I already told you.”
All he’d said was that I had to die for the good of the world. What was that supposed to mean?”
“We must hold this adventurer accountable for raising arms against Mr. Iwatani, the Shield Hero! Everyone! Prepare for ceremonial magic casting!”
They had already started the spell, and they sent it in L’Arc’s direction.
If their magic were as powerful as it looked, we’d all get caught up in it.
I looked to the queen and she caught my gaze.
I understood. She knew that we could survive the blast.
“Shooting star shield! Motoyasu, get over here!”
I quickly invited him to the party.
Surprisingly, he understood what was happening and immediately accepted. Then he ran into the range of my skill.
“This doesn’t look good.”
Therese raised her arms and her jewels sparkled. She was casting a spell.
What? The wind raised up, very powerfully, and began to swirl around us.
“All-encompassing power of the jewel, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite. I am your friend. Lend me the power to destroy them!”
“Ceremonial magic judgment!”
Therese finished her spell a moment before the queen.
Then she removed her tiara and there was another jewel set into the center of her forehead.
“Shining stone! Shooting star rain of fire!”
Magic flames rained from the sky. But no, it wasn’t like rain. Each one was a huge ball of fire.
“AAAAAAAAHHHHHH!”
“KYAAAAAAAAAAAAA!”
Something like a meteor came shooting from the sky and shot straight through a ship, sinking it.
“Raphtalia!”
“I’m fine!”
Raphtalia, the queen, Itsuki, and his party all jumped from the sinking ship.
Dammit. The force of the sinking ship was forming a vortex. It was pulling people into it.
The queen tried to save them by teaming up with other people in a small boat and casting magic with them to calm the vortex.
The whole situation had moved in L’Arc’s favor and Therese had only cast a single spell!
I’d seen a lot of different kinds of demi-humans and creatures since I arrived in this world, but I’d never seen anything like Therese.
She must have been something else entirely.
“Damn!”
“Ren! If you don’t jump off that ship you’re going to die!”
Ren looked worried, but he understood that his teammate was right—he jumped into the water.
He really wasn’t much help, was he?
“Therese!”
“I know, I just had to keep them away!”
“All-encompassing power of the jewel, hear my plea and show yourself. My name is Therese Alexanderite. I am your friend. Protect them from the falling flames!”
“Shining stones, silent ocean!”
Huh? When Therese finished her spell the vortex vanished completely. The queen was staring at L’Arc, completely baffled.
“I don’t want any unnecessary deaths.”
“But you want to kill me? What kind of logic is that?!”
“It’s not that we WANT to kill you. But we have to do what we have to do—I don’t want anyone else to get involved.”
“Then why are you trying to kill me?!”
“I guess we owe you that much. But I already told you we have to do it to save our world!”
“What does that mean?! Isn’t THIS your world? How does it help anyone to kill a hero in the middle of a wave?!”
“Oh man, you don't even know that?”
“L’Arc isn’t so good at explaining things.”
“Shut up, Therese. Fine, I’ll tell you, Naofumi. Our world is just what it sounds like—another world.”
“ . . . .”
What was he talking about?
Could it really be what it sounded like?
It seemed like it was too much. It couldn’t be true—and yet . . . .
During the last wave, we’d met an enemy named Glass.
If what L’Arc was saying was true, then were he and Glass from the same place? Where they the same enemy?
“It’s just like the girl said. There are tons of fake heroes out there pretending to be you. Everyone who calls themselves a hero is lying. It took a lot of time to find you, Naofumi.”
“What?!”
“
What are you saying?!”
“Yeah! We are heroes!”
The other heroes jumped to their feet.
“Oh? Are you three pretending to be heroes too? Ha! Give me a break!”
L’Arc looked at the other three heroes and broke out into sincere laughter.
“You must be joking! You three are so WEAK! If you’re going to pretend to be heroes, you’ll have to be way stronger than that—like Naofumi here.”
“What?!”
“You want to try me?!”
“Motoyasu, wait!”
But Motoyasu ignored me and ran at L’Arc, his spear readied.
“I already told you, we don’t want to kill anyone we don’t have to. We only need to kill the hero.”
L’Arc waved his scythe.
“First form, wind slice!”
He had only flicked his wrist, but a massive tornado appeared and blew Motoyasu away.
“AHHHHHHH!”
Motoyasu flew through the air like a ragdoll and splashed into the ocean, where he floated face-up.
He’d defeated Motoyasu with a single hit?
“Guess they still have some fight in them?”
“Apparently. It’s a waste of time, but I guess we need to get rid of them too.”
“I suppose so.”
L’Arc and Therese readied themselves for battle, then rushed to attack.
“Shining stones, explosive thunder rain!”
Just like last time, a bolt of lightning struck L’Arc’s scythe, charging it.
“Combo skill, lightning firework!”
He spun the scythe between his hands, forming a quickly rotating disk. Innumerable beams of light shot from it—they shot from it and shot right through the people that were around the sinking ship.
I used shooting star shield and ran forward to protect the back line.
Raphtalia and Filo stood behind me, within the range of the protective barrier.
“What . . . what the . . . .”
“How . . . how could they?”
Luckily the queen and her immediate soldiers had been able to make it into the range of my skill, so they were safe. But the other heroes, and nearly all the other adventurers and sailors, had been shot straight through by the beams of light.
“Damn . . . .”
The actual attack wasn’t too powerful, but the range was incredible.
I didn’t know who L’Arc was, but his attacks were something serious to contend with. We’d have to be on our toes.
“I tried to make sure that wouldn’t kill you all. If you interfere in my battle with Naofumi, I won’t hold back next time.”
I turned to see the damage. Most of the people looked like they were paralyzed. Luckily they had been in boats, so they didn’t seem to be drowning.
“Such power . . . . Who are they . . . ?”
The queen began to chant a spell.
“Wait a second, queen. If that spell isn’t powerful enough to kill us, you’d better not use it. It looks like they are only interested in me.”
“That’s the Naofumi I know! A quick thinker!”
“How cute—you think you know me after only a few days?”
“Spending bit of time with a person is enough to get the gist of his personality.”
L’Arc was looking confident. He pointed at me.
“You must have a reason for stealing items from the defeated, Naofumi. You aren’t the type to commit an evil act for no reason.”
“Finally, someone who really understands what you're like, Mr. Naofumi.”
“Don't say that. You're bumming me out.”
They weren’t wrong. They weren’t wrong, but . . . .
“Damn! They betrayed my trust!”
I hate betrayal. But thinking back on it, I guess they’d never promised me anything.
They’d rejected my offer to stick together. I guess we were enemies that had accidently become friends.
Ha! What a joke.
“The flames have nearly died out. Raphtalia, Filo, we know these two, but we have to take them out!”
“It’ll be tough, but let’s do it, Mr. Naofumi!”
“Umm . . . . If they want to fight then I’ll show them what I can do!”
“It’s a fight just like any other fight.”
“Just another fight? So you want to play it fair? I prefer to think of it as strategy.”
“That’s just like you, Naofumi. Come at me then! I came to this world to take your life!”
“Shining stones, explosive lightning rain!”
Just like when they had defeated the inter-dimensional whale, Therese’s magic struck L’Arc’s scythe.
He pivoted, then swung at us.
“Combo skill! Electric great circle!”
I assumed that the skill would break through my shooting star barrier, so I held up my shield to block the attack.
I was right. The barrier shattered with a deafening crack and L’Arc’s sizzling skill broke right through it, flying straight for me.
“HAAAAAA!”
The crackling circle of light slammed into to my shield and sent sparks flying in all directions.
The shield was strong enough to stop it, but if the skill had hit at a bad angle, there would have been real trouble to deal with.
“Hey, hey! You were able to stop my electric circle—pretty good!”
I had the Soul Eater Shield equipped, and its counter effect, soul eat, activated, sapping L’Arc of strength.
“What? What’s that? Doesn’t hurt much.”
But he was shocked and thrown off guard. It was like he couldn’t figure out what kind of attack he was dealing with.
Soul eat was a counter attack that activated whenever I successfully blocked an enemy’s attack.
The shield itself moved, and it stole the enemy’s magic power.
If the enemy was a hero, I wondered if it would decrease their SP.
It didn’t deal any physical damage directly, but it did it in an indirect way.
If the enemy was good with magic, then they would find their spells less and less effective.
“Heh, you’ll have to do better than that.”
“I figured as much. You didn’t even flinch. Therese!”
“Shining stones, karma fire!”
Therese cast a spell and sent it flying at me. The spell made something like a giant wave of lava, and it was rushing straight at me.
I wasn’t sure if I was going to be able to withstand it.
“You better not forget about us!”
“Or meeeee!”
Raphtalia and Filo jumped forward from the back line and both started furiously attacking L’Arc.
“Ha!”
L’Arc back-stepped away from their attacks. They were within inches of connecting.
They kept up the barrage. Sometimes he dodged, sometimes he blocked, and sometimes he parried their weapons away.
Were they telegraphing their moves that much?
Therese continued to cast magic spells. I used the shield to charge forward, pushing L’Arc back so that I could block the spells.
But the second the magic hit me, it split apart and turned away.
For a split second, I thought I could hear a small voice saying “I’m sorry.”
“What was that?”
“I know. You don’t want to fight him.”
Therese looked very sad. She was talking to her bracelet.
It was the bracelet I’d made for her.
“Therese! Use that spell on him!”
“Yes, I know!”
What were they talking about?! She turned to cast something on me.
It was starting to look like the only way out of this was straight through. We had to win the fight.
Besides, they weren’t from this world, and they had come here specifically to kill me.
If that was true, then there was no way I was going to escape from the battle, and if there was no way to escape then there were plenty of people there that I had t
o protect. L’Arc and Therese said that they didn’t want to hurt anyone else, but there was no way for them to escape.
“Raphtalia! Filo! I’m going to open him up to attack—you two rush in when you see a chance!”
“Yes!”
“Okay!”
I turned my gaze back to L’Arc. I was going to have to find some way to trip him up.
“Air strike shield! Second shield!”
I summoned two shields, one at his back and one at his stomach—I was hoping to restrict his movement.
The normal way to use the skill was to summon a shield to block an enemy’s attack—then you could use change shield to switch to a shield with a counter attack ability to deal some damage.
But when you were fighting against a person, or other enemies that could move quickly, there was another way to use the skill. And that was to summon the shields in such a way as to limit the enemy’s movement.
My strategy was to think about how he might try to dodge an attack. I’d seen him back-step, so I summoned a shield behind him to prevent any retreat.
If he tried to jump back, he’d hit that shield, but what if there was another shield in front of him to block him moving forward?
That was my plan.
“Huh?”
L’Arc tried to dodge Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks, but when he tried to move a clanging sound indicated he would not be able to.
“Now!”
“Hyaaaaaa!”
“Take that!”
Raphtalia sliced with her sword from the right. Filo swiped with her claws from the left.
“Floating scythe!”
L’Arc’s empty hand was suddenly filled with another scythe, a mysterious one that seemed to float. He used the blade to block Raphtalia’s attack and then pushed Filo back using the handle.
“That was close. Naofumi, I see what you mean about strategizing now. I’d figured the Shield Hero wouldn’t have too many attacks up his sleeve, but I guess I better be more careful around you.”
“We’re not done yet! HAAAAA!”
Raphtalia reared back from the blocked attack and stabbed forward again.
A scythe was like a spear: the user blocked attacks with the handle. Which meant that it would be very difficult to block a stabbing attack.
“I’m not done with her!”
Filo flexed her arms and, bracing her foot, pushed back on the scythe handle that had blocked her last attack.