The Rising of the Shield Hero Volume 05 (20 page)

I remembered they had used collective ceremonial magic during the battle with the high priest. It had been extremely powerful. I think the queen had explained that it was normally reserved for wartime battles. I hoped it would be effective against the boss.

One more thing, up until now the heroes had been leading the charge in every wave that had come. Were we really supposed to act as supporting attackers in this fight?

“Leave it to me. Alright! Let’s go, Filo!”

“Yeah!”

We climbed onto the deck railing and dove in to the ocean.

The water was still red due to the rucolu barrels.

The inter-dimensional whale had dove down deep below us.

That seemed to be its attack pattern—dive deep and then ram the ships from below.

Motoyasu was actually really impressive. He had his spear stuck in the side of the beast and was riding down with it.

But he didn’t have any time to use a skill, and the boss was far more powerful than he was—so his attacks weren’t having much effect.

What?! The whale turned towards the surface. Was it preparing to charge?

I took a deep breath and swam down under the boat, positioning myself beneath the hull.

I looked down into the depths and spotted the whale swimming far below.

I didn’t know where it was planning to attack, which made it hard to think about defense.

Before it could attack, I pushed off from the hull and started swimming downward in the direction of the beast.

Filo was there with me, right by my side.

The first thing we’d have to do was get ourselves in a position to block the horn.

It wasn’t going to be hard. The whale noticed us and leveled its horn. It was charging straight at us now!

Yes! Keep on coming, straight at me—you dumb whale.

At that moment, Motoyasu, Filo, and I were the only living things around the whale. All the other monsters had left the area.

Come on!

I readied myself and then it was on me. The horn was slicing through the water, threatening to impale me.

I felt the horn slam into me with a thundering crash, but my defenses were strong enough to withstand the attack.

But I didn’t have anywhere to brace my feet, so I wasn’t able to stop the whale from advancing.

The whale kept pushing towards the surface, and I felt my feet hit the underside of the ship’s hull.

I couldn’t do much else.

But either could the monster.

It started rocking back and forth, trying to fling me off of its horn.

As if I would let it!

I shot a glance at Filo.

She was in her filolial queen form, and she knew what I meant. She flipped through the water and kicked the whale hard.

And the monster reacted—it was thrown off balance!

While the monster reeled through the water, Motoyasu kept his attack up.

Because I’d stopped the monster for a moment, Motoyasu had found a free second to start using skills.

Above the water, the soldiers on the ship had been following the fight. Cannon balls and huge arrows rained down on the whale, and the water was filled with a booming and crashing sound.

The water was chaos. It was filled with white bubbles, and I couldn’t see a thing.

But I kept my grip on the horn and pushed the monster back from the hull.

It was getting harder to breath.

Keeping my grip on the horn, I turned to the side and swam for the surface.

Huh? The whale looked surprised. I was pulling it through the water!

“Pufah!”

I stuck my head out of the water and took a deep breath.

“Huff . . . . Huff . . . .”

I filled my lungs and dove again. The whale was wriggling and writhing through the water. It couldn’t get its horn free.

There was nothing else I could do.

The jewel-like bumps across its body were sending out magic spells left and right, but they weren’t hurting me at all.

“Shooting Star Spear! Lightning Spear!”

The whale was on the surface of the ocean now. Motoyasu climbed onto its back and used skill after skill.

“Take that! Hya! Hya!”

Filo was doing the same thing. Now that she had a place to stand, she was finally doing some real damage. Her sharp claws were shredding the monster’s back.

Raphtalia got a lock on the monster with her ballista.

Itsuki was already shooting at it. Raphtalia’s ballista was huge, so I was hoping that it had some serious attack power.

Everyone was pummeling the monster, and the water around it was turning a deep red.

There was a rush of wind when Raphtalia loosed the ballista’s arrow. It connected with the monster and the air was filled with the sound of a successful attack.

Huh? Was Raphtalia’s the most effective attack yet? Had we won?

“Shield Kiddo! Don’t move!”

“What?”

L’Arc readied his scythe and jumped into the water.

“Flying Circle!”

A disc of light came from his weapon and sliced into the whale.

…?!

“Wha . . . .”

A massive spray of blood shot into the air and rained down on us. The whale’s tail had been split in two.

“ . . . ?!”

The inter-dimensional whale screamed in agony.

“Can’t let him have all the fun!”

Filo shouted, and she reared back to deliver a decisive kick to the monster.

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.