Chapter Twelve: Iron Maiden
Red dragon flame… The Shield of Rage II had grown into something else all together. I turned it on the black shadow.
“Aaaaaarrrhhhhhhhh!”
When I screamed the air around us seemed to crawl and tear—like it was screaming with me.
“Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!”
The inter-dimensional Soul Eater took its eyes from Filo and turned them on me.
This wasn’t good. Compared to the last time I used the Shield of Rage, the emotion was much stronger. I felt like I was losing myself.
Was it because of the shield’s growth? This “grow up” that had been mentioned?
Ugh… My vision was wavering.
“Mr. Naofumi.”
Suddenly, a kind touch, it must have been Raphtalia.
I couldn’t… I couldn’t lose her here.
There were people out there—people depending on us to stop the wave. I couldn’t let myself be swallowed by rage and hate. I couldn’t let them down!
I threw off the dark shadow and shook my head to steady my vision.
The enemy was there before me. I stared at it and readied myself.
“U…Uaaaahhhhhhh!” Ugh?! I turned and, for whatever reason, Filo was engulfed in dark flames. “Gaaaaaaah!” Her eyes were sharp like a bird of prey. She ran at the enemy and kicked it hard. It might have been because she’d eaten the dragon core that I’d used on my shield. Filo turned on the Soul Eater and kicked it again. “Yaaaaaa?!” It looked like her attacks were successful. But it also looked like she was unable to distinguish the real enemy. She turned on another, random monster in the area and started to attack it instead. “Ugh…” The shield was threatening to absorb me. I ran at the inter-dimensional Soul Eater and pressed it back with my shield. It gnashed its teeth at me, scratching my shield—but I wasn’t taking any damage. Perfect. The Shield of Rage II had self curse burning. It was a counter attack that answered an enemy’s attack with a powerful curse, one that would burn the enemy to ash.
I felt the cursed flames rising within me. They roared throughout my body and engulfed the Soul Eater.
“Yaaaaaaaa!”
The inter-dimensional Soul Eater screamed in pain, but the self curse burning wasn’t powerful enough to completely burn it.
The skeleton captain, kraken, and ship’s cannon all turned to focus their attacks on me.
“I don’t think so! Shooting Star Sword!”
“Shooting Star Spear!”
“Shooting Star Bow!”
Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki had recovered their footing, and they all unleashed a barrage of skills at the enemies before them. Then they turned to the inter-dimensional Soul Eater.
They were trying, and their attacks connected and worked—but none were powerful enough to defeat their targets. The enemies healed themselves too quickly.
Wasn’t there some other way?
I remembered that there was another skill. One I hadn’t tried yet.
Change Shield (attack) and Iron Maiden.
Both of them were skills from the Shield of Rage II. I didn’t know what they did, but it was worth the risk to find out.
I’m pretty sure it was Shield Prison to Change Shield (Attack) to Iron Maiden.
It might have meant that performing the skills in order would lead to
some kind of chain reaction. Could it be some kind of combo skill?
“Shield Prison!”
I turned to see the enemy incased in a cage made of shields. Luckily enough, maybe because Ren and the others had drawn its attention, the Soul Eater had left itself wide open.
Now it was caught in the Shield Prison.
The monster was now attacking the cage directly, and it seemed ready to crumble at any moment.
I wouldn’t let it escape. I couldn’t let my chance slip away.
“Change Shield (attack)!”
The command was the same as my normal Change Shield skill.
I was presented with a number of new shields to choose from.
A needle-covered shield seemed like the obvious choice. There was the Animal Needle Shield and the Bee Needle Shield to chose from.
I chose the Bee Needle Shield.
“!”
The shields that made up the Shield Prison all suddenly turned into Bee Needle Shields, their needles facing the interior of the cage, and the monster took damage.
The walls were pressing in on the monster inside.
Iron Maiden!
I was ready to use the skill, when a paragraph appeared in my head.
“The punishment I have chosen to inflict on the foolish criminal before me is called the Iron Maiden. They will be pierced through from every direction, enveloped in their own screams, and will taste true pain!”
“Iron Maiden!”
I shouted to activate the skill, and a giant iron torture device appeared in the air. It’s door swung open, and the entire Shield Prison was pulled inside.
With the door open, I could see the interior was filled with large spikes and the victim inside would have to prepare himself to be stuck through by them.
When the door closed, whoever was inside would be impaled in every direction.
The Shield Prison disintegrated, the door slammed shut, and the enemy was impaled before it was even able to scream.
There was a loud clang, and the door of the Iron Maiden swung open. The Soul Eater inside was stuck through so many times it looked like a honeycomb. Weakened, it turned to escape.
But…
The door slammed shut again, and the Soul Eater was once again impaled on the spikes.
At the same time, my SP meter dropped to zero.
The skill used up all of my SP?
The Iron Maiden either ran out of time, or power, or whatever. The torture device vanished.
“Huff…Huff…”
“Whoa…”
Everyone was whispering, breathless.
The inter-dimensional Soul Eater was riddled with holes, and clearly dead.
“We won!”
I tried to control my ragged breath, and changed my shield back to the Chimera Viper Shield. I would have to find some way to control Filo. She was running around violently.
With the shield powered up, I apparently wasn’t able to use it for very long.
“Huh? Whew….”
Probably because the Shield of Rage II had disappeared, Filo slowly came back to normal. She sat down, exhausted.
“Whew…”
“You did it.”
“I guess.”
“Oh Boy! What happened?!”
I turned around in time to see Raphtalia run up to me, and Filo collapse in exhaustion.
“Did we stop the wave?”
“I’m tired!”
Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki were all glaring at me. They looked envious.
“We lost this time, but things will be different next time.”
“What was that? After all you said about not knowing anything about the world that was some fighting you did.”
“You didn’t join the fight for so long that you still had all your energy.”
Itsuki had the nerve to say something like that? He travelled the world and tried to not stand out, doing all his adventures in secret, and he had the nerve to call me lazy?
“Regardless, now we’ve….?!”
Wh…What the hell? I suddenly had the worst feeling. Every muscle in my body was tense.
It looked like Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki felt it too. They were feverishly looking around the ship.
One of Itsuki’s party members was overcome by fear. He fell to the ground. There was an overpowering sense of dread. It was so powerful that the Soul Eater we’d defeated was nothing in comparison.
What was going on?
There was a shuffle, and a person’s shadow fell over us all.
Was it another enemy? This was getting ridiculous. I didn’t have any energy left!
“Are you all so threatened by these little monsters? It seems there is but one true Hero among you.”
She was wearing a deep black kimono that was embroidered with silver. It my own world, it looked like the kind of clothing a wealthy relative might wear to a funeral.
This whole world had seemed to be like the European middle ages, so it was weird enough to see someone in a Kimono.
Her hair was long and jet-black.
She looked Japanese, but also somehow ghostly.
It was like… It’s hard to describe, but she occasionally shimmered, like she was semi-transparent.
She held a fan-like weapon. Without warning a stream of light burst forth from it, flying over our heads.
We all turned to see what was happening, only to see the light collide with another inter-dimensional Soul Eater that had been creeping up behind us.
“I would prefer to fight without your interference. The approaching battle is of sublime importance.”
“Wh…”
The Soul Eater fell to the deck, dead, from her single attack.
It couldn’t be true. We’d spent all our energy and time on a Soul Eater, and she’d just killed one with a single attack!?
The girl narrowed her eyes and looked directly at me before she spoke again.
“Well, from what I saw of the last fight, it seems that you are a Hero. The others seemed unable to fight at all, but you are different.”
“Maybe.”
“And what is your name?”
“You’d ask my name without giving your own?”
“Pardon me. My name is Glass. If I must elaborate it wouldn’t be wrong to consider me your enemy.”
I wasn’t about to consider her my friend.
“Naofumi.”
“Naofumi then. Shall we begin the real battle of the wave!”
The girl named Glass opened her fan and rushed at me.
Dammit! I’d just used the Iron Maiden, and I wasn’t in any position to start a new fight!
If I used the Shield of Rage II I would have to contend with its poison. I was barely able to hang on. Thanks to Raphtalia, I’d been able to control the poisonous emotions from the shield, but I felt my limit approaching.
“I won’t let you!”
Ren, Motoyasu, and Itsuki all readied their weapons and aimed their skills at Glass.
“Shooting Star Sword!”
“Shooting Star Spear!”
“Shooting Star Bow!”
The three skills were flying at Glass when she looked down and let her lips curl, ever so slightly, into a smile.
“How cute… Circle Dance Zero! Reverse Snow Moon Flower!”
It was the middle of the day, but the wine-red sky began to glow and pulse.
There was an attack coming. I ran to Raphtalia and Filo and readied my shield to protect them.
We looked to the sky to see a blood-red moon hanging there, silent and powerful, like it had absorbed the shouts of its enemies.
There was a flash of red, circular light, and the other heroes and their parties all fell.
“GAAAAHHHHH!”
Something like a tornado lifted them from where they’d fallen then flung them all through the air.
“Ugh!”
They fell to the deck again.
Damn. They knew a lot about the world, and they were all at a high level. How could they fall so easily?
But if she was so powerful that she could defeat the Soul Eater with one hit, then how could we ever hope to stand against her?
We’d used all our power against it, but it was looking like that fight had been nothing more than a warm up.
I’d thought that this wasn’t a game, but the difference in our strength was so apparent that we really stood no chance.
If this WERE a game, I would assume it was a battle that you were forced to lose, that losing would trigger an event of some kind. But this was reality.
If we lost, there wouldn’t be a secret event to save us. Life wasn’t that simple.
Besides, the people who already knew all about the game and used that knowledge to efficiently level up had just been defeated—just like that.
I’d spent my time trying to make money. What hope did I have of standing against her?
Still, I couldn’t lose. I had to win, for Raphtalia. For Filo.
“What a pathetic little bunch. I feel bad for your Holy Weapons. They must be crying.”
Her weapon was an Iron Fan. She held it open with both hands, and her fighting looked like a dance.
“This is certainly unexpected.”
“Master, that girl is super strong!”
Filo’s feathers were all standing on end.
“It’s true. I can feel her power from way over here. She’s much stronger than we are.”
Raphtalia’s tail was erect and puffy. She was obviously trying to control herself.
I ran over to the fallen heroes, and looked down at the fainted Bitch.
Those heroes she had depended on were like toys to Glass.
But what were we supposed to do?
Honestly, the Iron Maiden had used up all of my SP. At the very least, I’d need a way to recover that.
That’s it. Motoyasu spoiled the Bitch. Maybe she had some kind of tool that would prove to be useful. Or maybe she’d have a good item or two?
There. She had Magic Water and Soul-Healing Water. The selfish Bitch.
The first item would replenish any magic that you used when casting spells, and the other would recover any SP you used when you used a skill.
Well, Soul-Healing Water was so expensive that I’d never had a chance to try it. But I had heard that it would increase your concentration, and that would make your magic more powerful.
I decided to try drinking the Soul-Healing Water. It tasted a little like the nutritional drinks I’d made, but as I drank it I could see my SP meter being replenished.
Yes, so it really did restore SP. Thinking back on it, Ren and the others had been using one skill after the other, so they must have had a way of replenishing their own SP.
“Mr. Naofumi!”
Raphtalia saw me rummaging through the Bitch’s pockets and yelled at me.
But seriously, they weren’t fighting, and I didn’t really have any other option.
“How cheap. And you call yourself a Hero?”
“I’m fine with cheap. This woman has done much worse than ‘cheap.’ I’m not very fond of her.”
“Master, you look like a bad guy!”
“Shut up.”
“The enemy speaks truthfully, I don’t know what to say.”
Raphtalia sighed to herself. The enemy seemed to be growing annoyed with us.
“She is not on our side, but she is not incorrect.”
“Whatever.”
I stepped ahead of the other heroes, and Glass readied herself for a fight.
They weren’t capable of fighting for themselves, so there wasn’t anything I could do to further involve them in the battle. Glass seemed to understand that too. She had a samurai-like stoic character to her too. She probably only wanted to fight those who would challenge her.
“Very well then. I think our chat has gone on long enough!”
She opened her fan and rushed at me.
She was fast! I immediately raised my shield. Just in time—I caught her attack with the shield, and it reverberated with a dull clang.
Damn! It was so heavy. She’d only attacked once, but the shock had shaken my shield arm until it went numb.
Her attack was stronger, much stronger, than even the Zombie Dragon’s attack had been. If she could manage such a powerful attack with her fan, then Raphtalia and Filo were in real trouble.
“Raphtalia! Filo! Watch out! This one is strong.”
“Understood!”
“Okay!”
“I am the source of power. Hear my words and heed them, protect them!”
“First Guard!”
I cast supportive magic on the both of them, and the battle began in earnest.
“If we fight here, the fallen Heroes will be in the way. My aesthetics do not tolerate unnecessary interventions in our noble struggle. Let us go somewhere else.”
As if she had understood my real intentions, she leapt from the ship. We followed her.
“This seems like a place where we may battle undisturbed. Here I come!”
If the fan’s attack hit anywhere I couldn’t manage to cover with my shield it was strong enough to overcome my defenses, causing pain and leaving a wound. If I had the chance I would cast First Heal to cover the damage I was receiving. But there was very little time.
Her attacks came quickly and powerfully. More than anything else, she was intelligent. It was nothing like fighting a monster. She realized that her attacks were not as effective on me, and so she set her sights on Raphtalia and Filo.
“I won’t let you!”
I used Shield Prison. I sent it over to where Glass was standing.
“Ha! Pathetic.”
Glass destroyed the Shield Prison with a wave of her hand.
But that wasn’t my real plan.
The real reason I used Shield Prison was…
“Hiyaaa!”
“Take that!”
So that she wouldn’t be able to see Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks coming.
“Ugh!”
Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks covered a larger range than Glass could defend with her fan, and where they connected they produced a shower of sparks.
“So you are using a similar battle tactic. This is much more interesting than those other Heroes.”
She was quick with her counter attack. Her fan opened and sliced at Raphtalia.
I wouldn’t let that happen!
I jumped ahead of Raphtalia just in time and covered her. I took the attack with my shield, which activated the counter attack skill Snake Fang (medium), and the shield bit deep into the enemy.
“Do you think a simple attack like that will defeat me?”
It didn’t look like the poison worked on her. After taking the Snake Fang attack, she didn’t appear fazed.
Of course I knew her defense from when I saw her parrying Raphtalia and Filo’s attacks with her Iron Fan.
Regardless, she was too powerful. Her attacks were so strong.
The fact that she had defeated the other heroes so quickly proved how powerful she really was.
Honestly, I couldn’t picture a version of this fight that ended in victory for us. Even if I could keep us healed, I didn’t see a way to defeat Glass. We just weren’t powerful enough.
“Master, watch my magic!”
Filo entwined her hands and ran straight for Glass.
“Haikuikku!”
She had used that back when she was fighting the inter-dimensional Soul Eater. It was a powerful technique that made her move faster.
For a second, just a second, Filo was nothing but a blur.
When she hit the enemy the attack was so strong it sent the air vibrating, and I felt the shock through my shield.
“Ugh… That person is so hard! She took my attack and didn’t go flying!”
“Yes, you were able to kick me eight times in that second. Unfortunately you simply aren’t powerful enough.”
What? Did she mean that she was able to follow Filo’s attacks?
Glass turned quickly, like a pirouette, and opened her fan, slicing at Filo. She was our enemy, but I couldn’t help but admire her graceful movement. She took the brunt of Filo’s attacks without even batting an eye.
“Filo! One more time!”
“I can’t! I don’t have any more magic, and I need time before I can attack again!”
So that was her secret, her ultimate attack? I guess she hadn’t been able to use it in quick succession during the last fight either.
It wasn’t looking good. We were running out of options.
While Filo kept Glass occupied, Raphtalia had maneuvered behind her and sprung a surprise attack. She appeared out of nowhere, so she must have used magic to hide herself.
“Now! Filo!”
She’d waited for the perfect moment—for Glass to expose a weakness. Glass would surely take heavy damage if she were attacked from the rear.
And yet...
“What are you doing?”
No! Raphtalia had snuck behind Glass and aimed an attack straight at her back, but Glass had stopped it without even turning.
“There’s no point.”
Glass looked a little disappointed. She sighed and then flicked her fan, parrying Raphtalia’s sword. She seemed to move as lightly as a breeze, but the clang of her fan against the sword spoke to the strength she concealed.
Clang!
“Wha…”
Raphtalia’s sword… broke?!
How strong was this girl? Sure, Iron Fans had long been known to be capable of breaking a sword—but to think that she could do it so easily? I’d cast First Guard on myself and switched to my hardest shield, but even at that I could barely stop her attacks.
Now only Filo had a chance of defeating her. But she wasn’t strong enough.
“Ugh…”
Raphtalia jumped back to put some distance between herself and the enemy. Then she pulled out another small sword she’d had stashed away. Did she stand a chance?
“Is this really your true ability? To be honest, I’d expected more of a fight from you.”
“That’s what you get for assuming. We’ve been giving this our all the whole time!”
“What a shame.”
Glass’s whole body started to emit a light.
No! That was the attack that had defeated the other heroes!
“Raphtalia, Filo!”
Glass began to spin, as if she were dancing. There was only a second— we could barely move in time! Raphtalia and Filo leapt behind me.
“Shield Prison!”
I set myself as the target, and we are immediately enveloped in a magical cage of shields.
This was the other way to use Shield Prison. It wasn’t only for stopping the enemy. I could use it to protect us too.
The wall of shields would protect us while we were inside.
Among all my skills, the Shield Prison had the highest defense rating.
“Dancing Circle Zero! Reverse Snow Moon Flower!”
There was a powerful wind, and a barrage of clattering Iron Fans destroyed the Shield Prison.
“Ugh…”
The attack was incredibly strong. If it destroyed the Prison and injured us, then it only seemed natural that it had decimated the other heroes.
“Are you two all right?”
“Yes…”
“It hurts!”
I turned to find both of them suffering from the attack. I quickly applied healing ointment to my own wounds. They were within the effective range of the skill, so the ointment worked on them too, healing their wounds.
“Impressive. That you might stand after my attack speaks to your defensive capabilities.”
The tornado vanished, and the enemy walked in our direction.
“So glad we’ve won your approval.”
We were tattered and tired, but we hadn’t lost yet.
“What’s next? Aren’t you going to use that shield of flame from before?”
Did she think I was holding back?
Or, not quite… It’s like she was waiting for me to use the Shield of Rage II.
What should I do? Keep fighting a losing battle? Send Filo running away and use the Shield of Rage II, knowing that it would consume me?
If we were going to lose anyway, should I accept the regret of using it?
“Fine. But you don’t know what you’re getting into!”
I switched to the Shield of Rage II.
“Gaaaaahhhhh!”
Filo ran at Glass again and unleashed a fury of kicks.
“You’re attacks are stronger than they were, but unfortunately…”
Glass didn’t even change her footing.
All of Filo’s kicks were connecting, but Glass was completely unfazed.
“What’s the point?”
She used her fan to lightly brush Filo away.
“Gah!”
She’d barley touched her, but Filo flew five meters through the air.
“Ugh…”
How strong was this girl? If this were a game, I’d have expected the inevitable "losing event" to have started by now.
“Ugh….
But I was still standing.
I’d be okay. No matter how powerful the hatred that might overtake me, it would never be able to stand up to the feeling I had for those who believed in me.
But if I let it go on for too long, it would be dangerous.
Cold sweat dripped down my face, but I stepped forward anyway, signaling for Raphtalia to get away.
“Mr. Naofumi… Are you sure?”
“Yeah, I can control it.”
I kept walking until I was close to Glass. There was still some Soul Healing Water in the bottle I’d taken from the Bitch. I drank it and recovered my SP.
I felt like I could concentrate suddenly. I felt fresh. I felt like I could keep the shield from consuming me entirely.
“Please show me what you’ve got.”
“I sure as hell will!”
Her fan flicked open and slashed at me.
Yes, this attack was much stronger than the Chimera Viper Shield. I readied the shield.
Self curse burning activated, centered on me.
The flames burned with intensity proportionate to my anger. But I had managed to control my anger, so that was probably limiting the power of the counter attack.
But the flame was still cursed. Raphtalia backed away at the sight of the flames.
A moment later the Shield of Rage II exploded in black flame, spiraling toward the sky. Glass was knocked back.
“What?!”
But she wasn’t concerned. She stood there, placid, like the winds were massaging her.
Could it be? The self curse burning was the strongest counter attack I’d seen. Could she really let it batter her without worrying at all?
How tough was this girl?!
“Why are you still playing around?”
Dammit! She was too strong! Not even the Shield of Rage II could stand against her!
“Is that all you’ve got? Circle Dance Rupture, Tortoise Shell Crack!”
She pulled her Iron Fan back and then thrust it powerfully in my direction. It emitted something like an arrow of sharp light.
Dammit! I raised my shield and felt it reverberate with the heavy, dull shock. My whole body ached.
I’d taken damage, straight through the shield.
“Ugh…”
“So you can absorb an attack with that much power? Impressive.”
It was hard to stay focused through the pain. But I couldn’t lose myself. Not now.
“That was some attack.”
It might have been a piercing attack. They showed up in games now and then.
They had a chance of ignoring the defense rating of the target. Some attacks would even deal more damage to targets with higher defense ratings.
Is that what the other heroes had meant when they said that shielders became less useful with time?
Experience points, in online game, tended to get harder and harder to accrue as you leveled up. I don’t know what kind of game the other heroes were familiar with, but as for the games I’d played, I could think of some examples of how it could be true.
The first is the simplest. The enemy’s attack power would eventually outrank the defensive capabilities of the shield.
The next was based on dodging because as you leveled up there were more and more enemies that could kill quickly with one hit.
The last was firepower type games, as the defense abilities of the shielders were not nearly as useful as the ability to quickly overpower the enemy with your attack power.
I’d given a fair amount of thought to everyone’s dismissal of the shield class, but none of those options seemed to be the case in this world. I couldn’t figure it out, but I had no choice but to keep moving forward.
I cast First Heal on myself to heal my wounds.
“I have discovered the weakness in your attacks.”
Glass spoke with extravagant confidence.
“The black flames appear in response to attacks in your immediate vicinity. If you are attacked from a distance it will not activate. Then you shout to your subordinates to indicate the target.”
Damn. She’d figured it all out. She was a real bushi. And her powers of observation were sharp.
Two waves back it was a black beast; then it was a chimera. This time it was an intelligent. It was a person.
Just what were these waves? Weren’t they just natural disasters?
“So that is all I must do to win. I defeat your party, and then attack you from a distance. It would be very easy. But honestly, such strategies aren’t even necessary in a fight like this.”
“Ugh…”
“Come at me with your strongest attack.”
It was like she was playing with me. She didn’t even look like she was preparing to avoid my attack.
I knew why. It’s because she was playing with me.
If she stood up to my strongest attack and took the full force of it without buckling, that was her way of humiliating me.
But I wasn’t going to lose that easily. I couldn’t!
“Shut up already! Shield Prison! Change Shield (attack)!”
Glass was immediately trapped in the Shield Prison, and the shields quickly turned into shields that would attack her.
And then…
“Iron Maiden!”
I used my newest skill—an instant kill.
A massive iron chamber, shaped like a woman, appeared in the sky and pulled the Shield Prison inside. The door slammed, and the shields themselves were pierced through.
“How’s that?!”
But…
“You’re more powerful than I expected.”
The door swung open, and Glass was alive and well inside.
The Iron Maiden hadn’t damaged her much, and it dissolved into small particles and vanished.
It vanished, leaving Glass standing there without a scratch.
Like nothing had happened at all.
“But…”
There were no other options.
“Very well then, we will consider this wave ended—and we have emerged victorious. I bare you no hatred. However…”
Before she finished her speech, the hourglass countdown icon in the corner of my visions quickly changed.
00:59
A new set of numbers appeared.
“The time? But it’s much sooner than…”
Now! Raphtalia aligned her breathing with me and quickly chanted a magic spell.
“First Light!”
A ball of light appeared right before Glass—then it exploded in a great flash of light.
Glass was stunned by the flash, and stood there motionless for a moment.
I immediately changed to the Chimera Viper Shield and ran over to Filo. She had jumped to her feet, ready to go crazy, but quickly recovered her senses.
“Get us out of here!”
“Wait!”
“Don’t doubt her speed. We’ll get away just fine.”
“You would subvert the rules of the waves? I can’t have you making time for yourselves like that!”
“I’m tired! What’s going on?!”
I guess she couldn’t seriously hope to fight.
If the Iron Maiden didn’t work then I was out of options.
“Very well then. It’s disappointing, but we seem to be out of time.”
Glass walked off toward a giant rift. Before she entered it she paused, then turned.
What? What did she want to say?
“I will withdraw for now, but you will not be so lucky next time. Do not allow yourself to forget that it is WE who will emerge from the waves victorious. If that was your true strength, it is only a matter of time.”
What did she mean, “we?” She was making it sound like some kind of competition.
I didn’t understand. I thought that the waves were natural and were going to destroy the world.
Thinking further though, I realized that nobody seemed to know anything at all about the waves. We had to figure out what they were. At the very least, we’d realized that the enemy was intelligent, and a force to be reckoned with.
The Trash and his Bitch were really holding me back. We just figured out who our real enemy was, who the heroes needed to be fighting.
Geez… enemies, everywhere I looked, more enemies!
“Naofumi. I will remember your name. Lick your wounds and await my return.”
“Don’t bother learning my name. We aren’t planning on losing to you.”
She nodded, satisfied. Then she killed a Soul Eater that had been hiding near the rift before stepping inside and vanishing.
Did she just kill her ally? Glass was a human, so was she not on the Soul Eater’s side?
At Glass’s retreat the rifts closed, and at the same time the hourglass countdown vanished from my vision.
“Whew…”
“We made it out of that alive, but who was that woman?”
“Who knows?”
“Wheeeeew!”
Filo was out of energy, and she lay sprawled on the ground. For a second I wanted to join her.
“Well, we managed to close the wave.”
“We did.”
“I’m tired!”
“Me too. Let’s leave the heroes where they are and pick up the pieces.”
Honestly, it had been a terrible loss. How could we have known the enemy was so strong? If we couldn’t win despite knowing all the secrets of the game, what hope did we have?
And what was that countdown that appeared at the end?
Regardless, we needed to get stronger before the next wave arrived.
It was clear as day. If we didn’t class-up, we’d never survive the next wave.
But still, the others must have classed up—and they were still defeated. We needed something else, some kind of decisive advantage.
And so the third wave of destruction came to an end, and we made it out alive.
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