“The legendary filolial… She really does exist.” Fitoria and the Spirit Tortoise continued their titanic battle in the distance. We had safely made it back to the coalition army line, and let me be blunt: we were looking very worse for the wear. My armor was barely holding together. It was littered with dents and holes. “Let’s hope she can put an end to all this.” Fitoria unleashed an amazing series of attacks, one after the other, with impressive speed. “ROOOAAAAARRR!” The spike-like missiles on the Spirit Tortoise’s shell shot high into the air, and Fitoria followed them with her eyes. Jumping back to get some distance, she deftly dodged each careening spike and its ensuing explosion. Again, I was impressed. “Crash! Charge!” Fitoria shouted as she opened one of her wings. Then the carriage that she had been pulling grew to an enormous size and began to transform! The carriage became a chariot. Fitoria ran full speed, the chariot in tow, and slammed into the Spirit Tortoise. Then she bounded up over the stunned monster and delivered a crushing blow to its head and front legs. “. . .” She strained against its shell but wasn’t able to push it back any further.
Pulling back to get her bearings, the chariot morphed back into a carriage. The moment that it was free from her attack, the Spirit Tortoise regenerated its lost limbs and head, and it immediately opened its mouth to shoot another particle beam. “Master! I have a message from Fitoria!” “What is it?” “She says that she can’t break the shell. She says that she’ll keep it busy, but that we need to find a way to kill it.” I sort of wished that she would just talk to us normally, though considering her size, her voice would probably be too loud to understand. It probably would have just sounded like some deafening noise. “Can’t she use a flock of her filolial friends to attack en masse?” “She says she had to hurry to get here, so she’s all alone!” Oh well. I guess I couldn’t expect a large flock of filolials to keep up with her. She was really fast. Furthermore, what was I thinking—expecting normal filolials to put up a fight with the Spirit Tortoise? “Mr. Naofumi!” Raphtalia and the others came running back from the direction of the castle. “How are the evacuations going?” “The castle town itself is mostly evacuated. I heard that the battle was going to move on to the next stage, so I hurried back.” “Good idea. Looks like we won’t be relaxing for a while.”
Fitoria was going to keep the Spirit Tortoise occupied, but if we didn’t figure out how to kill the tortoise for good, then we’d end up right back where we started.
I was getting tired of looking at that damn turtle! I turned to face the queen. “You heard what Filo said, right?” “Yes. And just like we suspected, I suppose our best option is to sneak inside of the Spirit Tortoise’s body and attempt the sealing procedure. The other option, though it is certainly not a sure bet, would be to search out the remainder of the ancient heroes’ message and hope that you, Mr. Iwatani, are able to read it.” “I guess we’ll just have to do both at the same time.” As we discussed our options, the battle continued in the distance. “What the?!” I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. The Spirit Tortoise had more than one head! Worse yet, they were all shooting particle beams at Fitoria. There was one piece of good news, at least. From where I stood, it looked like the beams themselves were less powerful than they had been. Perhaps it was because they were now shooting more than one at the same time. “We better get going.” Ost climbed down from Filo and stood on wobbly legs. She stared at the Spirit Tortoise is disbelief. She had either fallen into despair, or she was upset over what her “true body” was doing. “Do you think we can get up onto its back?”
“It will be difficult. But, Mr. Iwatani, closely observe the Spirit Tortoise with me.”
“Huh?” I did what I was told and squinted at the tortoise. When I looked really hard at the new, ragged shell, it was mostly covered in spikes. But I could just make out the remains of mountains still covering the shell, down where the spikes extended from the hard surface. Maybe, if we climbed up those mountains, we could find a cave that would lead us inside. I also watched the tortoise’s attack pattern as it grappled with Fitoria. It attacked with its head, its legs, and with the spikes on its back. From what I could tell, it didn’t have any attacks that would hurt a human-sized enemy on its back. Would it be able to hurt us if we got onto its back? We’d be in trouble if it suddenly stood up on its hind legs, or if it spun around, or if it flipped over onto its shell. If Fitoria kept up her attacks to the point where the Spirit Tortoise would try anything, then we might end up getting crushed in the battle. “Because the Spirit Tortoise is currently distracted by its battle with the legendary filolial, I believe we may be able to get onto its back if we approach from behind.” “It’ll be dangerous, but I guess we don’t have a choice.” I turned to Filo. “Did you hear that, Fitoria? We’re going to try and climb up onto the shell. We’re going to look for its heart or whatever it is. Can you keep it busy while we’re up there?” “Um . . . She says she’ll do what she can, but you better hurry.”
Then there was no time to waste. If possible, I wanted to make sure that the battle didn’t get too intense while we were on the shell, but there was no point in mentioning it. “Alright! Everyone, we’re going to climb onto the shell while the tortoise is moving and head for its heart! All of you, stick with me!” “Everyone! For the sake of the world, let us all do as the Shield Hero, Mr. Iwatani, says!” The crowd cheered. “Everyone! You have seen Mr. Iwatani defend us from countless attacks! Did it not rouse your soul to action? Now is our time!” I had one question for the queen. “Just checking, but are you coming with us?” “I had thought that I might be needed to distract the Spirit Tortoise, but the current situation no longer calls for it. While the legendary filolial occupies him, I will accompany you in this endeavor.” “Great,” I said, turning to check on Raphtalia and the others. They were clearly exhausted. Of course they would be. I was exhausted myself, and I wanted to get a few days’ worth of sleep. But there was no time for that. “Feh . . . Master Itsuki . . .” Whenever Rishia was scared or worried, she couldn’t help herself from whimpering Itsuki’s name. I still found it hard to believe she could see so much good in him. “Mr. Naofumi, are you feeling alright?” “It’s nothing I can’t handle, but when all this is over, I’m going to need to get my armor worked on.” It was still holding together, but just barely. If the battle went on for much longer, I’d have to think about changing into something else—not that I wanted to wear one of those kigurumi. Actually, I doubt the kigurumi I had would help much, considering the enemy. Maybe it would make more sense to steal the Filo kigurumi that Rishia was wearing.
“Feh?!” Rishia jumped, somehow intuiting my thoughts, and pulled the kigurumi tighter across her body. Then she held her hand out to Ost, who was still wobbling on unsteady feet. “It’s alright. We all share the same goal. The battle’s end draws near.” “Right.” “If we are climbing up onto the Spirit Tortoise, perhaps the time has come where I can be of assistance,” Eclair said, gazing at the monster battle that raged on the horizon. Her eyes were wide. “The Spirit Tortoise has changed considerably since the last time we fought it. There’s a chance that the mountain caves leading to the inside of its body have changed too.” “Good point.” “And there’s no telling what sort of Spirit Tortoise familiars we are going to find in those tunnels. We’re going to need your help to make it through. Make sure you’re prepared.” “Right.” “I’ll be right there with you!” the old lady shouted. “Yes. It’s time. Mr. Naofumi, let’s go!” “Yeah!” The battle with the Spirit Tortoise had reached the point of no return.
We had no choice but to sneak around behind it and climb up onto its shell. It was time.
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